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LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://www.archive.org/details/abrahamlincolngrOOhart 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  Great  Commoner 
The  Sublime  Emancipator 


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Abraham  Lincoln 


Abraham  Lincoln 

The  Great  Commoner 
The  Sublime  Emancipator 


By  Col.  F.  W.  Hart 


Press  of  Pasadena  Star-News 
Pasadena,  California 


Copyright  1927 
By  Franklin  W.  Hart 


Franklin  W.  Hart. 

A  retired  member  of  the  Los  Angeles 

(California)    Bar. 


0  the  Young  Men  and  Young  Women 
of  America  who  aspire  to  the  lofty  aims, 
the  moral  worth  and  intellectual  attain- 
ments of  Abraham  Lincoln,  this  Volume 
is  inscribed. 

Franklin  W.  Hart, 

A  Retired  Member  of  the  Los  Angeles 
(California)  Bar 


Contents 

Part  One — The  Rise  of  Abraham  Lincoln 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Boyhood,  Youth  and  Early  Manhood     ....  21 

II.     Policies  and  Marriage 38 

III.  Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates 56 

IV.  The  Presidential  Campaign 86 

V.     Gathering  Clouds 112 

Part  Two — The  Presidency  of  Lincoln 

CHAPTER 

I.  Policies  and  Hostilities 133 

II.  The  Call  to  Arms 157 

III.  Campaigns  and  Leaders 176 

IV.  Difficulties  and  Victory 200 

V.  Martyrdom 225 

Part  Three — The  Characteristics  of  Lincoln 

CHAPTER 

I.     His  Generosity  and  Humor 237 

II.     His  Religious  Life 252 

III.  His  Gift  of  Speech 261 

IV.  Sayings  of  Abraham  Lincoln 270 


^{introduction 


The  mighty  organ,  in  one  of  the  classical  cathedrals  of 
Europe,  was  interpreting  the  soul  of  the  skilled  player 
who  sat  at  the  console.  I  stood  awed,  fascinated,  subdued 
as  impulse  after  impulse  swept  and  swayed  my  soul.  One 
moment  the  sacrificial  zeal  of  the  soldier  marching  forth  to 
die  for  his  country,  the  next  moment  the  glee  and  the  gladness 
of  little  children  about  the  hearthstone,  then  the  evening 
shadows  with  the  crooning  song  of  a  loving  mother  and  finally 
heaven's  gate  seemed  to  open  and  the  glory  of  the  Eternal 
filled  the  temple. 

Col.  Franklin  W.  Hart  has  proven  himself  to  be  a  skilled 
historian  as  he  deals  majestically  with  "The  Great  Commoner, 
the  Sublime  Emanicipator."  There  is  in  this  book  the  human 
touch;  the  author  knew  Lincoln  personally  and  heard  the  great 
debate  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas.  We  have  in  this  book 
the  distance  so  essential  to  true  perspective.  Colonel  Hart 
brings  to  this  work  the  sober  judgment  of  maturity.  Opinions 
and  impressions  have  come  under  the  chastening  influence  of 
the  years  and  we  have  here  the  enduring  reality.  This  book 
deserves  an  abiding  place  in  the  school  room  and  in  the  home. 
Colonel  Hart  has  poured  his  life  blood  into  this  volume — his 
money,  patriotism,  his  intelligent  convictions  and  his  great  love 
for  Lincoln  and  the  Flag. 

It  has  been  said:  "Lincoln  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  his- 
tory. The  ancient  molds  were  not  used  in  shaping  him.  His 
career  is  as  strange  as  legend,  as  dear  as  romance,  as  dark  as 
tragedy,  as  real  as  sunlight."  We  are  greatly  indebted  to  the 
author  for  many  new  views  of  the  Noble  American,  bringing 
us  to  feel  the  warm  pulse  of  our  common  humanity. 

If  this  book  receives  the  attention  it  so  well  merits,  then 
manhood,  womanhood,  youth  and  childhood  all  over  America 
shall  have  a  greater  appreciation  of  the  Union  Colonel  Hart 
fought  to  preserve,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  died  to  save. 

S.  S.  Sampson,D.  D., 

Huntington  Park,  California, 
March  24th,  1927. 


(of  ORE  WORD 


"Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Great  Commoner, 
the  Sublime  Emancipator" 

Ever  since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  the  Great  Com- 
moner, as  Mr.  Lincoln  was  then  called,  especially  since 
my  arrival  at  mature  manhood,  I  have  cherished  a  de- 
sire to  give  some  permanent  expression,  through  biography  or 
otherwise,  of  my  abiding  appreciation  of  his  great  worth  and 
character. 

By  so  doing,  I  indulged  the  hope  of  making  a  slight  con- 
tribution to  the  excellency  of  his  name  and  fame;  but  I  am 
conscious  of  the  fact  that  any  attempt  on  my  part  to  add  to 
either  would  be  alike  impossible. 

As  to  my  desire  to  chronicle  the  stirring  events  in  the  life 
of  this  eminent  character,  I  would  say  that  the  absorbing  duties 
of  a  professional  career  have  hitherto  prevented  it.  This 
humble  volume  is  the  product  or  consummation  of  that  early 
desire  and  mature  conviction.  It  has  been  a  labor  of  love. 
Never  has  my  time  been  more  pleasantly  employed  than  the 
few  months  consumed  in  the  preparation  and  production  of 
this  biography. 

It  has  been  my  pleasure  to  contribute  much  to  the  public 
press,  on  various  subjects,  during  the  past  fifty  or  more  years 
(for  the  lure  of  the  pen  has  been  about  as  drawing  and  pleasur- 
able as  has  been  the  practice  of  law),  but  in  no  instance  has 
the  time  thus  employed  afforded  me  such  happiness  as  that 
which  has  been  devoted  to  this  work. 


14  Abraham  Lincoln 

Lived  in  Illinois 

In  my  early  years,  I  lived  in  Illinois,  a  few  counties  north 
of  Springfield  (Lincoln's  home) .  This  was  during  the  period 
of  his  great  political  activity.  I  learned  much  of  his  early 
struggles,  as  well  as  his  ultimate  and  marvelous  achievements. 

His  political  advancements  were  the  more  wonderful,  since 
his  early  environment  was  unfortunate  and  his  early  educa- 
tion quite  limited. 

It  was  my  good  fortune,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  to  hear  him 
in  the  first  of  his  memorable  debates  with  Judge  Stephen  A. 
Douglas.  With  an  elder  brother,  I  walked  twelve  or  fourteen 
miles  to  thus  see  and  hear  him;  and  if  I  had  walked  one  hun- 
dred miles,  as  many  did,  I  regard  the  inspiration  derived  from 
that  ever-memorable  address  sufficient  compensation  for  the 
fatigue  incident  to  the  long  journey  on  that  hot  August  day 
in  1858.  The  whole  course  of  my  life  and  early  ambition,  if 
I  had  any,  was  changed  from  that  hour. 

His  portrayal  of  the  barbarism  and  horrors  of  slavery  and 
the  possibility  of  its  extension  to  Northern  and  Western  states, 
unless  soon  arrested,  fired  my  young  heart  and  brain  to  an 
extent  theretofore  unknown.  Then  and  there,  I  swore  eternal 
hatred  to  the  diabolical  institution,  and  in  a  few  years,  my 
name,  with  those  of  three  brothers,  was  enrolled  among  my 
country's  defenders. 

All  knew  that  the  primary  cause  of  the  war  was  the  exist- 
ence of  slavery,  and  all  anticipated  its  abolition  would  be  a 
probable  result  of  the  war,  at  least  of  its  successful  termina- 
tion. It  is  now  to  me  a  pleasant  reflection  that  within  two 
years  from  the  precipitation  of  the  war,  with  one  stroke  of  his 
pen,  President  Lincoln  broke  the  shackles  of  slavery  from  the 
limbs  of  four  millions  of  bondmen. 

Personal  Observation 

My  readers  will  note  that  in  the  preparation  of  my  work, 
allusions  are  occasionally  made  to  incidents  and  stirring  events 
of  which  I  was  a  personal  observer,  or  in  which  I  was  an  active 
participant.  I  thought  this  might  be  a  source  of  a  little  zest 
and  pleasure  to  my  young  readers  especially. 


Foreword  15 

Lincoln's  Hardships 

It  is  often  said  that  "One  touch  of  Nature  makes  the  whole 
world  kin."  It  is  equally  true  that  a  touch  of  sorrow  or  be- 
reavement makes  all  people  kin;  and  further,  any  narration 
of  a  peculiar  hardship  or  privation  in  the  life  of  an  individual 
finds  a  sympathetic  response  in  the  hearts  of  all  men. 

When  I  read  of  Lincoln's  birth  in  a  log  cabin  and  of  his 
unfortunate  environment,  of  his  effort  to  convert  the  dense 
forest  into  fields  of  fertility  and  productiveness,  when  I  re- 
called the  dangers  he  encountered  from  the  wild  beasts  that 
roamed  the  forests,  when  I  learned  that  he  derived  his  sub- 
sistence largely  from  the  wild  game  of  the  woods  and  the  fowls 
of  the  air  that  responded  to  the  accurate  aim  of  his  father's 
rifle;  when  I  thought  of  all  these  hardships  and  privations  at- 
tending the  life  of  young  Lincoln,  it  awoke  a  sympathetic 
regard  in  my  own  heart  for  him,  as  it  did  from  all  others  who 
knew  of  the  facts.  I  was  in  a  peculiar  position  to  sympathize 
with  the  hardships  of  young  Abraham;  for  I,  myself,  and 
other  members  of  my  father's  family,  twenty-five  years  or  more 
later,  had  undergone  similar  privations  in  the  dense  forests  of 
Southern  Michigan,  some  200  miles  north  of  young  Lincoln's 
Indiana  home. 

Lincoln  as  a  Story  Teller 

The  unfailing  humor  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  aptitude  for 
story-telling  have  become  proverbial.  He  disclaimed  the 
authorship  of  many  stories  for  which  others  gave  him  credit, 
and  often  said  that  he  was  not  the  manufacturer,  but  the  re- 
tailer of  these  stories. 

It  was  generally  believed  that  he  was  the  author  of  about 
five  hundred  stories,  and  some  of  these  he  would  relate  be- 
times with  telling  effect  and  to  the  evident  discomfiture  of  his 
antagonist. 

It  is  claimed  by  his  friends  that  Mr.  Lincoln  seldom  told  a 
story  for  his  own  amusement  or  for  the  mere  sake  of  relating 
it.  When  he  resorted  to  this  diversion,  he  did  so  to  enforce 
and  illustrate  a  truth  or  to  embellish  and  beautify  an  argu- 
ment.    At  times,  he  would  employ  this  intellectual  weapon 


16  Abraham  Lincoln 

with  wonderful  effectiveness,  when  all  logic  and  argumenta- 
tion had  failed. 

Characteristics  of  Lincoln 

I  hope  all  will  enjoy  the  dominant  motives  and  aspirations 
of  the  great  Lincoln's  life,  as  related  in  Part  Three  of  this 
volume.  They  embrace  such  features  as  his  love  of  books,  his 
naked  honesty,  his  love  of  and  for  the  common  people,  saying 
that  "God  must  love  the  common  people  for  he  made  so  many 
of  them";  also  his  care  for  the  soldier  boys,  often  saving  them 
from  the  firing  squad  when  a  court  martial's  verdict  had  as- 
signed them  to  death;  also  his  religious  life  and  his  marvelous 
oratory. 

In  the  darkest  days  of  the  great  war  period,  when  all  seemed 
to  be  lost,  he  was  wonderfully  sustained  by  an  unfaltering  trust 
in  the  overruling  hand  of  Providence,  and  the  assurance  which 
such  an  abiding  trust  gave  him  of  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the 
Union  cause. 

A  pathetic  story  is  related  of  a  visit  of  Bishop  Simpson,  an 
eloquent  Divine,  at  the  White  House,  when  the  latter  was  re- 
quested by  the  President  to  tarry  and  pray  for  him  and  the 
soldiers  at  the  front.  With  this  request,  the  sorrowful  Lincoln 
remarked  that  he  was  often  driven  to  his  knees  with  the  over- 
whelming conviction  that  he  had  nowhere  else  to  go.  That  his 
own  wisdom  and  that  of  all  around  him  were  insufficient  for 
the  needs  of  that  day.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  fervent,  earnest 
petition  reached  the  great  white  Throne  on  that  occasion. 

War  History 

It  has  not  been  my  purpose  to  write  an  extended  history  of 
the  war,  as  formerly  stated;  but  those  who  desire  historic 
accuracy  (as  far  as  I  have  gone)  as  to  the  number  of  con- 
testants engaged  on  each  side,  so  far  as  known,  and  results  of 
each  engagement,  will  find  their  wishes  gratified  in  my  recital 
of  the  accounts  of  the  ten  or  twelve  battles  fought — being  the 
greatest  of  the  war — and  some  of  the  greatest,  perhaps,  of  all 
wars  and  of  all  times. 


Foreword  17 

Enduring  Fame 

I  am  firm  in  the  conviction  that  the  name  and  fame  of  the 
great  Commoner  will  go  down  in  history  through  all  time 
parallel  with  those  of  the  great  and  good  of  all  ages,  with 
those  of  Socrates  and  Plato,  Cicero  and  Caesar,  Demosthenes 
and  Pericles,  Shakespeare  and  others,  shining  with  increased 
perrenial  splendor  as  the  centuries  come  and  go. 

Acknowledgements 

I  beg  to  acknowledge  my  appreciation  for  the  kindness  of 
some  authors  in  permitting  me  to  make  brief  quotations  from 
their  works.  In  such  instances  I  have  endeavored  to  give 
proper  credits  by  stating  the  names  of  the  authors  and  their 
publishers  on  the  same  pages  where  the  excerpts  are  recorded. 

I  desire  to  give  special  recognition  of  the  great  pleasure 
and  inspiration  I  have  received  from  a  perusal  of  the  fine  work 
of  "Lincoln"  by  Wayne  Whipple,  the  noted  author  of  New 
York  City. 

I  wish  to  remark  in  this  concluding  paragraph  that  no 
thought  of  financial  remuneration  has  entered  into  the  mind 
of  the  writer  in  penning  this  volume. 

If  in  the  portrayal  of  the  worth  and  nobility  of  character 
possessed  by  the  great  Emancipator,  I  have  in  any  way  con- 
tributed to  his  enduring  fame,  or  have  inspired  the  youth  of 
America  to  cherish  his  virtues  and  emulate  his  example,  my 
work  will  not  be  in  vain;  the  desire  and  purpose  of  this  author 
will  have  been  attained. 

Franklin  W.  Hart, 
Huntington  Park  (Los  Angeles),  Calif. 


PART  ONE 
THE  RISE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


CHAPTER  I. 
Boyhood,  Youth  and  Early  Manhood 

A  braham  Lincoln  was  easily  the  foremost  American 
/\  statesman  of  the  last  century,  if  not  of  all  centuries. 
-*-  -*-  His  mind  was  a  copious  fountain  of  political  lore 
and  civil  jurisprudence.  Everything  written  or  spoken  of  him 
is  still  read  with  increasing  interest  and  profit,  and  will  be  as 
long  as  time  and  memory  endure.  His  influence  for  good  is 
more  potent  now  and  more  extensively  felt  than  it  was  when 
the  assassin's  bullet  ended  his  mortal  career.  The  reason  is 
apparent.  "He  spake  as  never  man  spake."  His  charming 
personality  and  address,  with  his  graciousness  of  speech  drew, 
like  his  Master,  all  men  unto  him. 

Of  his  impressive,  forceful  eloquence,  I  will  make  later 
mention.  Of  him  it  can  be  said,  which  can  not  be  affirmed  of 
any  other  man  since  the  dawn  of  history,  as  I  think,  that  of  his 
manly  worth  and  nobility  of  character  over  one  thousand  books 
have  been  written.  And  the  end  is  not  yet.  The  historian's 
pen  is  as  busy  as  ever,  perhaps  more  so,  in  giving  perpetuity 
to  his  great  name  and  fame.  The  second  history  of  the  great 
Lincoln,  now  in  press,  by  that  classic,  brilliant  writer,  Ida  M. 
Tarbell,  will  soon  be  read  by  admiring  millions. 

Carlyle  was  wont  to  say  that  "biography  is  the  most  univer- 
sally pleasant,  universally  profitable  of  all  reading."  Another 
has  said  that  "the  biography  of  great  men  is  the  history  of 
the  world."  This  is  especially  and  peculiarly  true  when  applied 
to  a  great  character  like  that  of  the  immortal  Lincoln. 

No  one  can  read  his  biography  without  becoming  familiar 
with  the  great  men  and  measures  and  the  great  movements  that 


22  Abraham  Lincoln 

have  characterized  the  history  of  the  United  States  for  the  past 
one  hundred  or  more  years. 

The  love  of  literature,  especially  biographic  literature,  is  a 
common  impulse  or  characteristic,  I  think,  of  all  intelligent 
readers,  old  and  young  alike.  It  is  so  now  and  has  been  from 
the  remotest  antiquity. 

This  method  or  kind  of  reading  should  be  encouraged 
among  our  high  school  students  especially,  as  they  will  obtain 
a  knowledge  of  great  political  events  and  world  movements 
that  can  scarcely  be  acquired  in  any  other  way.  Thus,  if  you 
read  the  lives  of  Cyrus  the  great,  Darius,  and  Xerxes,  his  son, 
you  have  the  record  of  their  military  achievements  in  Media 
and  Persia,  as  well  as  the  union  of  the  two  empires  and  the 
fall  of  Babylon;  read  the  life  of  Leonidas  and  you  have  the 
wondrous  story  of  his  valor,  whereby,  with  his  Spartan  band 
of  three  hundred,  he  withstood  the  unnumbered  hosts  of  Xerxes, 
army,  for  many  days,  before  the  walls  of  Thermopylae.  To 
no  such  act  of  heroism,  can  we  find  a  parallel  in  all  the  pages 
of  recorded  history.  Read  the  history  of  Philip  of  Macedon 
and  his  noted  son,  Alexander  the  Great  (one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  later)  and  you  have  a  satisfactory  knowledge  of  Macedon 
and  its  people,  together  with  the  military  conquest  of  the 
world;  read  the  life  of  Hannibal  and  his  partial  subjugation 
of  Rome  (a  hundred  years  later),  and  you  have  a  good  history 
of  the  Carthagenians  and  the  three  Punic  wars  which  lasted 
over  a  century;  read  the  lives  of  Demosthenes,  Pericles,  Soc- 
rates, Plato  and  Aristotle  (his  disciple)  and  you  have  a  nearly 
complete  history  of  cultured  Greece;  read  Cicero,  Julius  Caesar, 
Scipio,  Africanus  and  their  contemporaries  and  you  will  learn 
much  of  imperial  Rome;  read  the  lives  of  Frederick  the  First, 
Frederick  the  Great,  and  the  late  bloody  Kaiser  and  you  have 
largely  the  history  of  Germany;  read  the  lives  of  the  French 
kings  from  Louis  VIII.  to  Louis  Phillippe,  with  those  of  the 


Boyhood,  Youth,  Early  Manhood  23 

distinguished  Mirabeau,  Robespierre,  Marie  Antoinette,  LaFay- 
ette  and  the  great  Napoleon  and  you  have  the  history  of  France, 
a  history  that  extends  back  over  a  thousand  years,  and  comes 
down  to  and  includes  the  French  Revolution;  read  the  history 
of  the  kings  and  queens  of  England  from  the  time  of  the  Nor- 
man conquest,  about  a  thousand  years  ago,  (where  English 
history  properly  begins)  down  to  and  including  Victoria's 
reign,  with  England's  military  heroes,  Oliver  Cromwell,  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  with  Britain's  eminent  statesmen  of  more 
recent  date,  Gladstone,  John  Bright,  Lord  Beaconsfield,  Lloyd 
George  and  others,  and  you  have  a  very  illuminating  and 
almost  complete  history  of  old  England. 

Let  us  consider  the  history  of  our  American  forbears  for 
a  moment.  As  to  the  statement  that  biographies  of  eminent 
men  and  women  give  the  most  satisfactory  and  comprehensive 
history  of  the  country  of  which  they  are  residents,  the  lives 
of  our  own  patriots  afford  abundant  proof.  Read  the  history 
of  these  illustrious  men:  Benjamin  Franklin,  John  and  Samuel 
Adams,  Patrick  Henry,  George  Washington,  Thomas  Jefferson, 
Andrew  Jackson,  Webster,  Clay,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Lincoln, 
Garfield,  McKinley,  Roosevelt,  Woodrow  Wilson;  read  the 
lives  of  these  eminent  statesmen  and  you  will  have  a  most 
copious,  comprehensive,  satisfactory  history  of  this  great  Re- 
public; a  history  extending  from  the  date  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  down  to  the  present  decade.  Such  biographies 
should  enrich  the  libraries  and  adorn  all  the  homes  in  this 
great  land  of  ours. 

As  Mr.  Lincoln  lived  a  sacrificial  life  and  died  a  martyr 
to  the  cause  of  civil  liberty  and  human  rights  (resulting  in 
the  liberation  of  a  race  of  bondmen)  his  name  and  fame  will 
be  held  in  affectionate  regard  as  long  as  time  and  memory  last. 
Hence  the  multiplicity  of  his  biographies  and  readers  being  in 
advance  of  any  other  person  or  potentate  living  or  dead. 


24  Abraham  Lincoln 

As  the  names  of  George  Washington  and  Abraham  Lincoln 
are  held  in  endearing  remembrance  for  the  distinguished  serv- 
ice they  both  rendered  their  country,  they  are  often  mentioned 
in  the  same  connection,  the  one  as  the  father  of  his  country 
and  the  other  its  preserver.  They  were  both  born  in  the  month 
of  February,  though  not  in  the  same  year,  of  course.  It  may 
be  a  matter  of  note  that  many  eminent  men  were  born  in  the 
month  of  February,  including  St.  Valentine,  Charles  Dickens, 
James  Parton  and  Horace  Greeley. 

It  is  quite  fitting,  as  has  been  the  custom  during  the  month 
of  February  of  each  returning  year  to  commemorate  the  worth 
and  achievements  of  General  Washington  and  President  Lincoln 
by  appropriate  memorial  services  at  one  and  the  same  time. 

In  their  early  education  and  later  attainments  there  were 
numerous  and  marked  resemblances.  General  Washington 
derived  most  of  his  education  from  his  mother,  and  so  did 
President  Lincoln.  In  early  life  Washington  became  a  surveyor, 
and  so  did  Lincoln.  Young  Washington  was  early  employed  in 
the  military  service  of  his  country,  and  so  was  young  Lincoln, 
in  the  Black  Hawk  War.  Washington  was  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  his  State,  when  a  young  man;  likewise,  Lincoln. 
Washington  was  elected  to  the  Continental  Congress;  Lincoln 
to  the  National  Congress  of  1846.  Washington  was  elected 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  so  was  Lincoln. 

Both  were  men  of  prayer;  General  Washington  prayed  early 
and  late  at  Valley  Forge  for  his  soldiers;  President  Lincoln 
prayed  at  the  White  House  all  night  for  his  soldiers  at  Gettys- 
burg during  that  memorable  engagement.  General  Washington 
achieved  a  marvelous  victory  over  his  enemy  at  Yorktown,  Va. ; 
President  Lincoln  won  a  similar  victory  over  his  enemy  at 
Appomattox,  in  the  same  State. 

Here  the  resemblances  of  these  eminent  statesmen  cease 
and  their  contrasts  begin.     Washington  was  a  man  of  great 


Boyhood,  Youth,  Early  Manhood  25 

wealth  for  his  day,  while  Lincoln  was  always  comparatively 
poor.  Washington  could  not  speak  in  public,  seldom  attempted 
to;  while  Lincoln  was  an  orator  of  distinguished,  almost  un- 
paralleled ability.  The  writer  has  heard  many  eminent  states- 
men and  political  orators  during  the  past  sixty  or  seventy 
years,  but  in  point  of  a  clear,  logical,  forceful  presentation  of 
a  subject,  never  heard  Mr.  Lincoln's  equal. 

Shortly  after  his  election  to  the  Presidency  in  1860  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  requested  to  give  a  short  history  of  his  life  for 
publication.  He  consented  to  do  so,  but  stated  it  would  be 
only  the  "plain  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor."  "I  was 
born,"  he  said,  "February  12,  1809,  in  Harden  County,  Ken- 
tucky, at  a  point  within  the  now  County  of  Larue,  a  mile  or  a 
mile  and  a  half  from  where  Hodgen's  mill  now  is.  My  parents 
being  dead,  and  my  own  memory  not  serving,  I  know  of  no 
means  of  identifying  the  precise  locality.  It  was  on  Nolen 
Creek." 

The  Lincoln  family  belonged  in  no  sense  to  what  is  called 
"the  poor  white  trash"  of  the  South,  as  some  writers  have 
maintained;  Abraham  Lincoln  was  descended  on  both  sides 
by  long  lines  of  honest,  thrifty  and  respected  English  and 
American  ancestors. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  like  Daniel  Webster  and  other  noted  states- 
men, was  born  in  a  log  cabin.  It  was  located  in  a  dense  forest 
southwest  from  the  present  city  of  Louisville,  at  the  point  above 
named.  The  environment  of  this  wild  country  was  not  such 
as  would  stimulate  or  promote  the  mental  growth  of  a  child, 
nor  any  aspirations  he  may  have  had  in  his  adolescent  years. 
His  mother,  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  was  a  woman  of  fine  intel- 
lectual endowment  and  of  eminent  piety.  She  early  taught 
her  young  son  and  Sally,  his  older  sister,  the  simple  rudiments 
of  an  education,  such  as  reading,  writing  and  spelling.  No 
schools  were  then  established  in  that  new  country;  neither  were 


26  Abraham  Lincoln 

there  any  churches  there,  but  the  good  mother,  desirous  of 
instructing  her  children  in  things  divine,  would  call  them  to 
her  knee  and  unfold  to  them  the  great  truths  of  the  Holy  Bible. 
She  would  also  explain  to  and  instruct  them  in  the  cardinal 
principles  of  the  Christian  religion.  This  gave  a  bent  and 
inspiration  to  young  Abraham's  mind  that  remained  with  him, 
during  all  the  years  of  his  subsequent  life.  He  often  stated, 
in  later  years,  that  all  that  he  was  or  hoped  to  be,  he  owed  to 
his  sainted  mother. 

In  these  early  years,  his  only  society,  aside  from  that  of 
his  parents,  was  afforded  him  by  the  wild  beasts  of  the  field, 
and  his  music  came  from  the  sweet  songsters  of  the  forest.  In 
Spring  time,  the  sweet  voice  of  the  whip-poor-will  would  greet 
his  ear.  The  shrill  cry  of  the  owl  and  the  snarl  of  a  panther 
would  occasionally  disturb  his  quiet  slumbers. 

When  young  Abraham  was  seven  years  old,  Thomas 
Lincoln,  his  father,  decided  to  move  to  Indiana.  The  title  to 
public  lands  in  Kentucky  seemed  to  be  defective,  and  Mr. 
Lincoln  wished  to  secure  a  homestead  in  a  territory  where  his 
holdings  would  be  secure.  Being  equipped  with  the  necessary 
cooking  utensils  for  the  journey,  he  set  out  to  hunt  a  location 
in  the  dense  forest  north  of  the  Ohio  River.  His  pathway  led 
him  through  an  almost  untrodden  wilderness.  He  soon  found 
a  place  that  suited  him,  about  sixteen  miles  north  of  the  river. 
It  was  located  between  the  forks  of  big  and  little  Pigeon  Creeks, 
near  the  little  town  of  Gentryville,  in  the  State  of  Indiana. 
Lincoln  staked  out  his  claim  (which  has  since  become  famous 
as  the  "Lincoln  Farm")  and  returned  on  foot  to  Kentucky  for 
his  family,  consisting  of  his  wife  Nancy,  little  Sally  and 
Abraham.  After  some  hardships  incident  to  travel  in  an  un- 
broken forest,  they  arrived  at  their  destination. 

The  ground  was  soon  cleared  and  the  construction  of  a 
cabin  begun.     Material  was  abundant,  though  in  the  rough. 


Boyhood,  Youth,  Early  Manhood  27 

The  claim  was  covered  with  a  great  forest  of  trees,  including 
sugar-maple,  walnuts,  oaks,  beeches  and  elms.  Young  Abraham, 
being  large  for  his  age,  aided  his  father  materially  with  his 
"little  ax"  in  the  preparation  and  completion  of  the  cabin 
home.  A  temporary  abode  was  made  of  poles,  soon  to  be 
supplanted  by  a  substantial  log  cabin. 

The  second  house  was  made  of  rough,  unhewed  logs,  and 
for  many  years  was  devoid  of  floor,  door  or  window.  A  deer- 
skin hung  before  the  exit,  and  a  small  hole  in  the  wall  gave 
them  a  little  light.  The  furniture  was  of  the  rudest  sort,  and 
of  their  own  manufacture.  The  tables  and  chairs  were  made 
of  rough  slabs  in  which  holes  were  bored  and  legs  fitted  in. 
Their  bedstead  consisted  of  poles  fastened  to  the  wall  by 
wooden  pins. 

There  was  only  one  room  in  the  cabin,  which  sufficed  for 
parlor,  dining  room,  bedroom,  kitchen  and  everything  else. 
A  curtain  suspended  from  a  pole  separated  the  bed  from  the 
balance  of  the  house.  There  was  a  loft  in  the  cabin  to  which 
young  Lincoln  mounted  by  means  of  pegs  driven  in  the  wall. 
In  one  corner  of  this  loft  was  a  bed  of  leaves,  on  which  he 
soundly  slept. 

A  small  space  in  the  woods  was  quickly  cleared  and  put 
in  cultivation.  On  this  were  their  vegetables  and  corn  raised, 
and  from  the  latter,  the  best  of  corn  dodgers  were  made.  The 
rivers  teemed  with  fish  and  water  fowl,  and  the  woods  abounded 
with  game  and  wild  animals.  The  crack  of  the  father's  rifle 
meant  execution,  and  many  fat  deer,  elks,  bears,  wild  turkeys, 
etc.,  came  to  earth,  in  response  to  his  fine  marksmanship.  These 
afforded  the  Lincolns  abundant  meat  for  the  winter,  while  in 
summer  the  menu  was  supplemented  with  the  choicest  of  fish, 
water  fowl,  squirrels,  raccoon  and  opossum.  Wild  fruits  in 
abundance,  such  as  dewberries,  huckleberries  and  blackberries 
were  everywhere  obtainable.    Then  later  came  the  nut  gather- 


28  Abraham  Lincoln 

ing,  when  hickorynuts,  black  walnuts  and  butternuts  literally 
covered  the  ground.  On  this  frugal  yet  nutritious  diet,  young 
Abraham  grew  up  and  developed  a  strong  physical  constitution, 
a  giant-like  constitution,  which  served  him  so  well  in  all  the 
varied  and  exacting  conflicts  of  his  subsequent  career. 

When  the  lad  was  nine  years  old,  the  shadow  of  a  great 
sorrow  came  over  his  pathway. 

In  the  fall  of  1818,  the  community  in  which  the  Lincolns 
were  residing  suffered  a  visitation  of  that  dread  disease,  known 
then  in  the  West  as  "milk-sickness."  Several  of  their  neigh- 
bors shortly  sickened  and  died  with  the  ailment,  and  in  a  few 
days  Abe's  mother  became  affected  with  the  disease.  Her  suf- 
ferings were  of  short  duration,  and  in  a  few  days  "she  rested 
from  her  labors." 

Shortly  before  her  departure  she  called  her  children,  Abe 
and  Sally,  to  her  bedside  and  requested  them  to  be  kind  and 
loving  to  their  father,  and  good  to  each  other,  and  to  be  faith- 
ful and  true  to  their  dear  Lord,  in  whose  word  she  had  so 
affectionately  instructed  them.  They  buried  her  in  the  wood 
lawn  not  far  from  the  humble  cabin  in  which  she  had  died. 

No  clergyman  was  available  in  that  far-off  wilderness  to 
perform  the  sad  rites  at  her  burial  as  was  the  usual  custom, 
so  young  Abraham  wrote,  what  he  afterwards  called  his  first 
letter,  to  a  Baptist  preacher  by  name  of  Parson  Elkin,  'way 
back  in  Kentucky,  with  whom  he  had  had  some  previous 
acquaintance,  and  requested  him  to  come  to  their  distant  home 
at  his  early  convenience  and  preach  his  mother's  funeral  ser- 
mon. The  parson  quickly  replied  that  as  soon  as  his  duties 
called  him  in  that  direction,  he  would  come.  So  one  day  in 
the  following  June,  when  all  nature  was  lovely,  the  trees  be- 
decked and  waving  with  their  green  foliage,  the  air  fragrant 
with  the  flower's  sweet  perfume,  the  ground  covered  with  a 
carpet  of  green,  the  clergyman  arrived. 


Boyhood,  Youth,  Early  Manhood  29 

The  next  day  being  the  Sabbath,  the  family,  the  parson 
and  a  few  neighbors  repaired  to  the  mound  containing  the 
loved  form  of  the  departed  one,  and  there,  under  the  waving 
oaks  and  elms,  the  man  of  God  delivered  a  sympathetic  and 
impressive  discourse.  As  he  described  to  them  the  loneliness 
of  the  cabin  home  and  the  great  loss  they  had  sustained  in  the 
departure  of  their  precious  mother  and  companion,  portraying 
the  worth  and  nobility  of  her  character,  the  high  esteem  in 
which  she  was  held  by  her  neighbors  and  friends,  and  finally 
invoking  the  blessing  of  Heaven  upon  the  dear  children  and 
husband,  in  this,  their  hour  of  supreme  bereavement,  their 
young  hearts  were  deeply  moved,  and  the  impressions  thus 
made  upon  young  Abraham  were  never  effaced  from  his  mem- 
ory. This  was  the  first  great  sorrow  that  had  come  to  the  lives 
of  young  Abraham  and  his  sister  Sally;  both  were  tender  in 
years,  one  being  nine  and  the  other  eleven.  Both  tried  to  attend 
to  the  household  duties  and  console  their  father  as  best  they 
could.  Abraham  had  acquired  a  love  for  reading  through  the 
inspiration  of  his  mother,  and  that  aided  them  in  beguiling 
away  sad  hours. 

The  months  following  were  periods  of  extreme  loneliness 
to  Thomas  Lincoln,  and  wishing  to  repair  his  broken  home  and 
secure  a  mother  for  his  half-orphaned  children,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  a  year  or  more,  he  journeyed  to  his  old  Kentucky  home 
and  brought  back  a  lovely  widow  as  his  wife.  Her  name  was 
Sarah  Bush  Johnson,  whom  he  had  known  in  her  girlhood  days 
as  Sally  Bush.  She  proved  to  be  a  lady  of  fine  domestic  and 
social  capabilities,  and  in  many  other  ways,  fully  measured 
up  to  everything  he  might  desire  in  a  companion.  She  brought 
with  her  her  three  children,  over  whom,  with  young  Abraham 
and  Sally  Lincoln,  she  exercised  a  mother's  tender  care  and 
solicitude.  She  early  formed  a  strong  attachment  for  the  lad, 
and  he  in  turn  fully  reciprocated  her  warm  affection.     This 


30  Abraham  Lincoln 

tender  relationship  continued  during  the  period  of  their  re- 
spective lives.  In  later  years  he  showed  his  love  and  attach- 
ment to  his  stepmother  in  a  very  substantial  way;  the  first 
attorney  fee  of  $500  he  earned  after  he  became  a  law  prac- 
titioner he  used  in  the  purchase  of  a  quarter  section  of  land 
for  her.  His  friends  attempted  to  dissuade  him  from  this  large 
expenditure,  but  his  love  and  affection  for  her  were  so  strong 
that  nothing  could  move  him. 

Returning  now  to  his  early  life  after  the  new  mother  had 
come  into  the  home,  it  is  pleasant  to  note  that  young  Abe,  as 
he  was  then  called,  and  Sally  were  tenderly  cared  for.  The 
second  mother  attended  to  their  much  needed  wardrobe,  and 
with  her  own  children  started  them  to  school. 

The  distance  to  the  school  house  was  four  or  five  miles, 
but  the  walk  gave  them  needed  exercise  and  sharpened  their 
appetites  for  the  generous  noon  lunch  the  good  mother  pro- 
vided. This  consisted  of  corn  dodgers,  fried  rabbit  or  fowl, 
nuts  or  dried  berries.  Young  Abe  learned  rapidly,  so  much 
so  that  none  of  his  class  could  keep  pace  with  him.  For  some 
reason  his  school  days  were  of  short  duration,  for  in  after 
years,  he  stated  that  he  never  attended  school  to  exceed  nine 
months  in  his  life.  However,  he  was  an  apt  student  and  con- 
tinued his  studies  at  home  with  unflagging  zeal. 

Permit  me  to  digress  briefly. 

This  writer  is  in  a  position  to  sympathize  with  the  Lincolns 
in  their  pioneer  home;  for  the  same  hardships,  privations, 
bereavements  and  pleasures,  incident  to  their  lives,  were  en- 
countered by  my  father  and  his  family,  a  few  decades  later, 
just  across  the  border  in  the  State  of  Michigan.  Well  do  I 
recall  the  dark,  almost  impenetrable,  forests,  the  numerous 
lakes,  the  rivers  and  brooklets,  the  fishing  excursions,  (often 
with  a  fisherman's  luck)  the  coon  hunts  in  month  of  October, 
the  husking  and   apple-paring  bees,  the  attendant  dances  at 


Boyhood,  Youth,  Early  Manhood  31 

night,  the  old  log  school  house,  with  the  old  master  and  his 
beech  whip  in  the  corner,  compelling  immediate  and  constant 
obedience,  the  spelling  schools  and  the  further  pleasure  of 
escorting  our  sweethearts  home  through  the  snow.  I  also 
recall  the  sweet  venison  and  fat  wild  turkey  meat,  products 
of  father's  good  marksmanship,  that  adorned  our  table  and 
filled  our  hungry  stomachs.  These  were  sources  of  pleasant 
remembrance  and  will  remain  so  for  all  time. 

But  sorrow  at  last  cast  its  shadow  across  our  threshold. 
The  death  angel  came  one  November  day  and  took  our  beloved 
father  from  us.  No  one  knows  the  anguish  of  such  a  bereave- 
ment unless  he  has  sustained  a  similar  loss.  His  dear  form 
reposes  in  the  old  church  cemetery  where  we  tenderly  placed 
it  over  seventy  years  ago,  in  the  old  Wolverine  state. 

Returning  to  the  life  of  young  Abraham:  As  he  grew  in 
his  "teens,"  he  became  very  efficient  "with  his  little  axe"  in 
aiding  his  father  in  cutting  the  underbrush  and  felling  the 
large  trees,  burning  the  same  and  preparing  the  ground  for  the 
plow  and  subsequent  cultivation.  With  the  old  family  team,  a 
yoke  of  patient,  plodding  oxen  at  the  front  end  of  the  plow 
and  young  Abe  at  the  handles,  with  an  inspiring  rod  in  his 
hands  for  "Brock  and  Brady"  as  they  were  called,  many  acres 
of  the  virgin  soil  were  soon  turned  to  the  sun,  and  annually 
thereafter  produced  bounteous  crops,  all  in  response  to  the 
hands  of  patient  industry. 

As  he  increased  in  years  and  aproaching  early  manhood, 
Abe  became  an  athlete  of  marvelous  strength  and  endurance. 
In  all  manly  sports,  as  well  as  the  social,  political,  physical 
and  intellectual  activities  of  the  community,  he  was  the  recog- 
nized leader.  He  became  a  great  wrestler,  and  in  this  manly 
art  no  one  in  all  the  "sap  bush"  could  cope  with  him.  When 
he  saw  large  boys  doing  injury  to  smaller  ones,  or  anyone 
violating  the  recognized  rules  of  conduct  in  society,  he  would 


32  Abraham  Lincoln 

give  the  culprits  a  respectable  flogging  and  send  them  home. 
In  the  clearing  of  forests  and  the  development  of  farms  in  his 
community,  he  was  always  in  great  demand.  He  could  split 
more  rails  and  build  more  fences  in  a  day,  probably,  than  any 
man  in  his  county.  This  fact  was  an  element  of  strength  to 
him  in  all  the  subsequent  events  of  his  political  activities.  By 
this  and  similar  events  he  enshrined  himself  in  the  affections 
of  the  American  people,  especially  the  toiling  millions,  more 
than  any  other  act  or  circumstance  that  possibly  could  have 
happened. 

When  Abe  had  nearly  reached  his  majority,  Thomas 
Lincoln,  who  was  of  a  roving  disposition,  decided  to  move  to 
Macon  County,  Illinois,  near  Decatur,  where  John  Hanks,  a 
relative,  had  previously  moved.  So  leaving  his  farm  with 
Mr.  Gentry  of  Gentryville,  Thomas  Lincoln  sold  a  few  of  his 
effects,  and  loading  the  rest  on  his  wagon,  with  his  family, 
he  started  with  his  two  yoke  of  oxen  and  wagon  for  his  west- 
ern destination.  Abe  followed  his  father  and  paid  his  expenses 
by  peddling  a  few  trinkets  along  the  way.  It  took  a  fortnight 
to  make  the  journey.  John  Hanks  had  anticipated  their  coming 
and  had  the  logs  cut  and  prepared  for  the  Lincoln  cabin. 

With  Abe's  assistance,  the  cabin  was  soon  up  and  ready 
for  the  family.  He  stayed  with  his  father  the  following  sum- 
mer, though  past  21,  and  helped  to  fence  part  of  the  new 
claim  (which  had  been  secured  by  John  Hanks  before  arrival 
of  the  Lincolns)  and,  with  the  aforesaid  oxen,  broke  up  fifteen 
acres  of  the  ground. 

Shortly  after  arriving  at  his  majority,  Lincoln  left  his 
father's  home  near  Decatur  and  started  out  to  carve  his  for- 
tune. He  went  to  a  small  village  called  New  Salem,  a  few 
miles  northwest  of  Springfield,  111.  Here  he  found  employ- 
ment with  a  man  by  name  of  Offutt,  for  whom  he  had  for- 
merly worked,  while  living  near  Decatur.     Mr.  Offutt  owned 


Boyhood,  Youth,  Early  Manhood  33 

a  store  in  the  small  town  and  a  mill  near  by.  Young  Lincoln 
worked  in  the  store  and  superintended  the  mill. 

His  time  not  being  wholly  occupied  in  the  Offutt  store, 
young  Lincoln  arranged  to  take  up  the  study  of  grammar,  for 
which  he  had  had  a  previous  desire,  but  no  opportunity.  His 
teachers,  during  the  few  months  he  had  been  in  school,  taught 
him  to  read,  write  and  spell,  and  also  taught  him  in  arithmetic 
as  far  as  the  rule  of  three;  but  in  grammar  he  had  no  instruc- 
tion for  the  simple  reason  that  his  teachers  had  no  knowledge 
of  that  branch  of  instruction  themselves.  In  New  Salem  he 
met  a  scholarly  man  by  name  of  Mentor  Graham,  an  old 
school  teacher,  to  whom  Abe  had  confided  his  ambition,  and 
who  encouraged  him  in  his  new  undertaking. 

No  English  grammar  being  available  in  the  village,  Abe 
was  informed  that  one  could  be  secured  at  the  home  of  a 
Mr.  Vaner,  some  six  miles  distant.  Thither  he  went  with  his 
characteristic  fleetness,  and  soon  returned  with  a  copy  of  Kirk- 
ham's  grammar.  During  the  intervals  of  time,  not  occupied 
in  waiting  on  customers,  he  fairly  buried  himself  in  the  leaves 
of  his  new-found  book.  At  times  when  he  could  be  spared 
from  the  store,  he  would  repair  to  some  shady  nook,  near  by, 
and  there  under  a  tree  would  continue  to  pore  over  his  book. 
He  was  encouraged  and  sometimes  instructed  by  his  new  friend 
and  others,  until  a  few  months  later,  he  had  fully  mastered  the 
contents  of  his  Kirkham. 

This  was  a  great  achievement  for  the  aspiring  young  Lin- 
coln, for  he  had  been  told  by  his  new  teacher,  Mr.  Graham, 
that  he  could  not  become  an  effective  public  speaker  (for 
which  he  aspired)  without  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Eng- 
lish grammar. 

Back  in  Gentryville,  when  young  Abe  had  arrived  at  his 
middle  "teens"  he  had  developed  a  talent  and  efficiency  in 
public  debate  that  was  quite  remarkable  for  a  youth  of  his 


34  Abraham  Lincoln 

age.     Oftentimes  the  trees  and  stumps  were  his  only  auditors. 

There  were  but  few  books  and  papers  accessible  to  him, 
but  he  possessed  a  retentive  memory  and  could  recall  and 
reproduce  in  debate,  the  knowledge  thus  attained,  with  won- 
derful effectiveness.  In  New  Salem,  his  fine  talent  for  public 
speaking  was  soon  recognized  and  he  was  frequently  called  to 
the  front  on  great  occasions.  He  took  an  early  interest  in 
politics,  and  being  a  Whig,  was  often  called  to  measure  intel- 
lectual and  political  swords  with  the  best  of  the  Democratic 
orators  who  visited  the  town.  He  could  cope  with  any  of  them, 
and  would  often  put  to  rout  his  antagonists  and  nearly  pul- 
verize both  them  and  their  specious  arguments.  Lincoln  con- 
tinued his  services  in  the  store  till  Offutt  "broke  up"  and  left 
many  sorrowful  creditors.  Lincoln  then  engaged  in  various 
jobs,  taking  work  in  any  enterprise  which  would  give  him 
employment. 

Subsequently,  a  stock  of  goods  was  purchased  at  a  dis- 
count by  a  man  by  name  of  Berry  from  Wm.  Greene,  and  with 
Mr.  Berry,  Lincoln  formed  a  partnership,  the  firm  name  being 
"Berry  and  Lincoln."  The  capital  was  small,  and  furnished 
by  Berry;  Lincoln  was  very  efficient  and  popular  as  a  sales- 
man. The  latter  qualification  was  probably  what  secured  the 
partnership  for  Lincoln.  Shortly  after  this  partnership  was 
formed,  a  little  incident  occurred  which  changes  the  whole 
course  of  Lincoln's  life. 

An  immigrant  drove  up  in  front  of  the  store  one  day,  with 
his  family  and  some  dilapidated  household  goods  in  the  wagon. 
This  included  a  barrel-full  of  stuff  of  little  value.  The  owner 
was  short  of  funds  and  proposed  to  sell  to  Lincoln  the  barrel 
with  its  contents  for  most  anything  the  latter  was  willing  to 
offer.  Lincoln  offered  a  half-dollar  for  it,  out  of  sympathy  for 
the  owner,  and  secured  it.  The  barrel  contained  a  prize  that 
proved  of  inestimable  value  to  Lincoln.     At  the  bottom  of  the 


Boyhood,  Youth,  Early  Manhood  35 

rubbish  was  found  a  complete  edition  of  Blackstone's  Com- 
mentaries. 

Lincoln  began  reading  these  works  at  his  leisure,  with  some- 
what indifference  at  first,  but  the  longer  he  read  the  more 
interested  he  became.  He  stated  in  after  years  that  "never  in 
all  his  life  was  his  mind  so  thoroughly  absorbed."  He  read, 
he  says,  till  he  fully  devoured  them. 

This  being  at  the  season  of  the  year  when  farmers  were 
quite  busy  with  their  crops,  Lincoln  had  the  more  time,  not 
needed  in  the  store,  to  devote  to  his  law  studies. 

Fortunate  for  the  world  (as  the  future  disclosed)  the  store 
did  not  pay.  The  senior  partner  neglected  his  business,  became 
dissipated,  and  soon  expired,  his  death  being  hastened  by  ex- 
cessive use  of  rum,  as  was  alleged.  The  effects  of  the  store 
brought  but  little,  and  the  firm  was  practically  bankrupt. 
Through  no  fault  of  Lincoln's,  large  debts  had  accumulated. 

The  nobility  of  the  young  man  came  now  to  the  fore.  No 
attempt  was  made  by  him  to  evade  his  financial  responsibility. 
No  thought  was  entertained  to  seek  relief  through  bankrupt 
proceedings  (as  some  might  have  suggested  to  him)  ;  but  he 
did  the  manly  thing.  According  to  John  Hay,  a  future  Lincoln 
historian,  he  promised  to  pay  when  he  could,  and  it  took  the 
labor  of  years  to  do  it,  but  he  paid  the  last  farthing  of  the 
debt,  which  seemed  to  him  and  his  friends  so  large  that  it  was 
called  among  them,  "the  national  debt."  Now,  as  the  store 
had  "winked  out"  as  he  denominated  it,  Lincoln  applied  him- 
self more  diligently  to  the  study  of  law,  being  encouraged  by 
his  friend,  Major  John  T.  Stewart,  who  loaned  him  the  needed 
law  books.  The  study  of  law  was  frequently  interrupted  by  the 
necessity  incumbent  on  him  to  earn  a  livelihood  for  himself 
and  to  earn  added  funds  to  pay  on  the  aforenamed  indebtedness. 

To  him,  the  adage,  "where  there  is  a  will,  there  is  a  way," 
was  quite  applicable;  for  his  strong  arm  and  active  brain  soon 


36  Abraham  Lincoln 

secured  for  him  abundant  employment.  His  services  were 
quickly  sought  for  and  obtained  on  farms,  in  stores,  keeping 
books  and  at  various  other  remunerative  employments. 

Prior  to  young  Lincoln's  engagements  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits he  constructed  a  flat  boat  (in  which  work  he  had  had 
previous  experience  in  Indiana)  on  which  were  loaded  the  sur- 
plus products  of  the  farm,  dairy  or  orchard,  to  be  floated 
down  the  Mississippi  river  to  New  Orleans  and  exchanged  for 
such  goods  as  were  needed  up  North,  as  sugar,  molasses, 
cotton  goods,  etc.  Lincoln  was  chosen  as  pilot.  Right  well  did 
he  discharge  his  arduous,  sometimes  dangerous,  duty. 

He  pushed  out  into  the  Sangamon  river  from  New  Salem 
and  floated  down  to  the  Illinois  River,  to  the  Mississippi, 
and  on  the  bosom  of  this  river  they  soon  glided  on  to  and 
passed  Alton,  St.  Louis,  Cairo,  Vicksburg  and  Natches,  finally 
reaching  New  Orleans.  He  and  his  companions  passed  several 
weeks  in  the  Crescent  City,  disposing  of  their  cargo  and  view- 
ing the  sights. 

Here  for  the  first  time,  young  Lincoln  saw  the  horrors  of 
human  slavery.  One  morning  he  and  his  associates  walked  to 
the  slave  market,  where  he  saw  negroes,  male  and  female,  in 
chains,  and  being  whipped  and  scourged,  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder,  and  separated,  parents  from  children  and  children  from 
parents,  never  to  see  each  other  again.  Finally,  a  beautiful 
mulatto  girl  was  brought  to  the  front.  She  was  exposed  to 
the  indignity  of  being  examined  as  to  the  soundness  of  her 
limbs,  eyes,  ears,  having  her  flesh  pinched,  and  then  being 
paced  up  and  down  the  road  like  a  horse  to  be  sold.  All  these 
scenes  occurred  in  Lincoln's  presence.  His  blood  soon  ran  up 
to  fever  heat,  and  turning  away  in  disgust,  he  remarked  to  his 
companions  that  "If  I  ever  get  a  chance  to  hit  this  thing  (mean- 
ing slavery)  I  will  hit  it  hard." 


Boyhood,  Youth,  Early  Manhood  37 

He  seemed  to  think  that  some  time  he  would  have  some 
part  in  manumitting  these  slaves.  Little  did  he  think,  how- 
ever, that  within  about  thirty  years  he  would,  with  one  stroke 
of  his  pen,  strike  the  fetters  from  the  limbs  of  four  millions  of 
an  enslaved  race  forever. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Politics  and  Marriage 

In  the  spring  of  1832,  a  band  of  Sacs  and  other  hostile 
Indians  invaded  the  northern  part  of  Illinois,  producing 
terror  among  the  inhabitants.  The  Governor  of  the  State 
called  for  volunteers  to  repel  their  invasion.  Lincoln  heard  the 
call  and  soon  enrolled  his  name  among  his  country's  defenders 

A  company  was  soon  formed,  with  rendezvous  at  Beards 
town,  not  far  from  New  Salem.  An  organization  of  the  com 
pany  was  quickly  formed  by  the  election  of  Lincoln  as  captain 
At  the  election,  Lincoln  had  one  rival  for  the  position,  a  man 
by  name  of  Kirkpatrick.  A  suggestion  was  made  that  each 
soldier  should  stand  by  the  side  of  the  man  of  his  choice  and 
when  the  command  "march"  was  given,  three-fourths  sur- 
rounded young  Lincoln.  This  was  a  source  of  great  pleasure 
to  Lincoln,  as  he  afterwards  related,  no  subsequent  achieve- 
ment giving  him  as  much  satisfaction  as  this. 

Captain  Lincoln  soon  ingratiated  himself  in  the  minds 
and  goodwill  of  his  soldiers,  his  sentiments  being  reciprocated 
fully  and  freely  by  his  comrades  in  the  ranks.  No  great  battle 
was  precipitated  during  the  ensuing  campaign  to  enable  the 
young  captain  to  display  his  prowess  and  military  skill;  yet 
during  the  war,  which  was  of  short  duration,  he  discharged 
his  duties  as  the  commanding  officer  of  his  company  with 
fidelity  and  honor,  and  at  the  close,  returned  to  the  peaceable 
pursuits  of  life,  at  New  Salem,  old  Sangamon  County,  111. 

Many  officers  of  subsequent  note  in  statecraft  and  other 
positions  were  in  that  campaign.  Included  in  the  number  were 
Zachary  Taylor,  then  colonel  of  the  regular  army,  afterwards 


Politics  and  Marriage  39 

a  distinguished  general  in  the  Mexican  war;  Albert  Sidney 
Johnson,  an  eminent  general  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  in 
later  years;  Robert  Anderson,  lieutenant  of  artillery,  who  later 
was  in  command  at  Fort  Sumter  at  the  time  of  its  capitula- 
tion; also,  there  were  Jefferson  Davis,  afterwards  president  of 
the  so-called  Southern  Confederacy,  and  others  of  lesser  note. 

It  is  significant  as  well  as  interesting  to  recall  that  later, 
Lincoln  confronted  many  of  these  subsequent  Confederate  offi- 
cers, when  he  was  not  a  captain  of  a  small  company,  but  com- 
mander of  the  military  forces  of  a  great  nation. 

On  his  return  from  the  Black  Hawk  War,  Captain  Lincoln 
decided  to  run  for  the  State  Legislature.  Four  representatives 
were  to  be  elected  that  fall  from  Sangamon  County.  Lincoln 
was  placed  at  some  disadvantage,  inasmuch  as  only  two  weeks 
remained  before  the  date  of  election.  Besides  this,  he  had  a 
formidable  candidate  opposing  him  in  the  person  of  old  Peter 
Cartright,  an  able  and  eccentric  clergyman,  of  marked  ability, 
well  and  favorably  known. 

Lincoln,  however,  possessed  fine  platform  ability  for  a 
young  man,  had  the  prestige  of  a  soldier  who  had  responded 
so  quickly  to  his  country's  call,  and  was  popular  with  all 
classes  of  people.  He  pushed  the  battle  to  the  wall,  speaking 
almost  day  and  night  up  to  the  day  of  election.  He  created 
great  enthusiasm  wherever  he  spoke  and  secured  a  remarkable 
following,  considering  the  short  time  he  had  at  his  command. 
However,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  visit  the  remote  sections 
of  his  county,  and  thus  he  lost  many  votes,  which  otherwise 
would  have  been  accorded  him.  He  lost  the  election  by  a 
small  majority,  his  opponent  receiving  815  votes,  while  Lincoln 
received  657.  While  this  was  a  minority  vote,  it  was  a  source 
of  great  satisfaction  to  Lincoln  and  his  friends  to  know  that 
he  mustered  so  large  a  following  in  so  brief  a  period. 

This  campaign  established  Lincoln's  popularity  beyond  a 


40  Abraham  Lincoln 

doubt,  as  the  future  years  disclosed.  He  recalled  with  great 
pride  that  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  this  was  the  only 
time  he  was  ever  beaten  by  the  direct  vote  of  the  people.  This 
defeat  by  no  means  discouraged  him.  He  devoted  himself  to 
any  kind  of  remunerative  employment  then  available.  He  was 
appointed  postmaster  of  his  town,  which  he  appreciated.  He 
discharged  its  duties  with  fidelity  and  acceptability.  His  hon- 
esty in  this  position  became  a  matter  of  note,  to  which  I  will 
refer  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

The  County  of  Sangamon  was  large,  and  numerous  deputy 
surveyors  were  needed.  Captain  Lincoln,  desirous  of  oppor- 
tunity to  learn  surveying,  accepted  eagerly  an  appointment  as 
deputy  surveyor.  This  was  in  the  fall  of  1833.  Lincoln  knew 
but  little,  if  anything,  about  surveying,  but  he  was  anxious  to 
learn.  He  knew,  as  did  his  friends,  that  whatever  he  under- 
took, or  was  willing  to  undertake,  he  could  master,  if  proper 
time  was  given  him.  This,  the  surveyor  (Mr.  Calhoun)  was 
willing  to  grant.  Procuring  an  old  treatise  on  surveying,  and 
securing  the  aid  of  his  old  school  master,  Mentor  Graham, 
Lincoln  applied  himself  with  untiring  zeal,  day  and  night,  to 
his  task.  In  six  weeks  he  had  accomplished  his  purpose,  hav- 
ing mastered  all  the  books  at  his  command  that  treated  on  that 
subject. 

He  at  once  reported  to  Mr.  Calhoun  and  was  assigned  to  a 
locality  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county.  His  work  there 
and  elsewhere  in  the  county  had  the  merit  of  being  correct, 
and  was  never  controverted  or  opposed  by  anyone  in  or  out 
of  court,  so  far  as  I  have  ever  been  able  to  learn.  He  received 
as  compensation  for  his  services,  the  sum  of  three  dollars  per 
day,  being  an  amount  in  advance  of  anything  he  had  previously 
obtained.  This  enabled  him  to  pay  part,  but  not  all  his 
financial  obligations,  for  it  should  be  remembered  that  his 
store  indebtedness,  incurred  through  no  fault  of  his,  still  hung 


Politics  and  Marriage  41 

over  him.  In  addition  to  this,  he  recognized  a  filial  obligation 
to  aid  his  worthy  father  in  time  of  need,  and  so  sent  him  a 
remittance  occasionally. 

The  nuggets  thus  obtained  helped  him  materially  in  the 
liquidation  of  his  indebtedness,  and  the  knowledge  of  survey- 
ing stood  him  well  in  the  future  practice  of  his  legal  profes- 
sion, whenever  that  question  was  involved. 

During  Mr.  Lincoln's  residence  at  New  Salem,  perhaps 
about  two  years  after  his  arrival,  he  went  to  board  with  a  new- 
made  but  highly  esteemed  friend,  by  name  of  James  Rutledge. 
He  was  a  man  of  fine  intelligence  and  a  prosperous  merchant 
of  the  town.  In  his  home  were  three  daughters,  Ann  Rutledge 
being  the  third.  She  was  not  a  lady  of  refinement  and  culture, 
as  that  term  is  known  in  the  East.  Nevertheless,  she  was  a 
lady  of  respectable  literary  attainments  and  accomplishments, 
having  improved  every  opportunity  for  mental  and  social  cul- 
ture that  were  afforded  by  the  thriving  new  village  in  which 
she  resided.  To  young  Lincoln,  she  was  the  most  charming 
lady  he  had  ever  met.  She  early  recognized  in  him  qualities 
that  were  not  possessed  by  any  other  of  her  gentlemen 
acquaintances. 

He  was  tall,  awkward,  unprepossessing,  yet  was  a  young 
man  of  rare  natural  endowments.  He  had  been  a  candidate 
for  the  State  Legislature,  and  his  superior  ability  as  a  political 
orator  was  everywhere  recognized.  A  mutual  attachment  was 
soon  formed.  Respect  was  changed  to  admiration,  and  this 
soon  matured  into  love.  An  engagement  followed,  but  the 
date  of  the  nuptials  was  postponed  till  after  the  completion  of 
his  law  studies. 

Lincoln  was  now  the  happiest  of  men  and  he  became  more 
so  as  the  months  came  and  went,  and  the  time  drew  nigh  when 
there  would  be  a  glorious  consummation  of  the  marriage  vow, 
when  he  and  Ann  would  be  one.    But  how  true,  and  sad  as  it 


42  Abraham  Lincoln 

is  true,  that  "man  proposes,  but  God  disposes."  The  shadow 
of  a  great  sorrow  came  over  his  pathway,  which  was  never 
entirely  removed.  The  health  of  Miss  Rutledge  became  impaired 
through  a  misfortune,  the  nature  of  which  I  will  not  stop  to 
relate,  and  she  grew  weaker  gradually  till  death  came  to  her 
relief.  The  shock  of  this  great  and  unexpected  bereavement 
almost  dethroned  the  reason  in  her  young  affianced. 

Shortly  prior  to  her  death,  and  in  response  to  her  request, 
young  Lincoln  came  to  her  bedside.  What  passed  between 
them  in  the  last  moments  of  that  solemn  interview  and  fare- 
well will  never  be  known.  The  inexpressible  anguish  that 
must  have  filled  the  heart  of  Abraham  Lincoln  can  better  be 
imagined  than  expressed. 

"I  never  can  be  reconciled,"  he  said,  "to  have  the  snow, 
rain  and  storms  beat  upon  her  grave."  In  this  hour  of  supreme 
bereavement,  he  was  wont  to  recall  a  poem  he  had  learned  in 
early  life,  beginning:  "Oh,  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal 
be  proud."  Its  repetition  afforded  him  some  consolation  in 
the  many  lonely  hours  that  followed.  His  many  friends  came 
to  his  relief  in  their  expression  of  sympathy  and  condolence, 
but  many  years  passed  before  his  grief  was  assuaged. 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  Miss  Rutledge,  which  occurred 
August  25,  1835,  Lincoln  was  invited  to  the  rural  home  of  a 
dear  acquaintance,  Bowling  Green.  Here  he  found  rest  and 
recuperation.  It  is  also  reported  that  soon  he  took  a  trip  back 
to  his  old  Kentucky  home,  accompanied  by  a  dear  friend.  This 
was  done  that  a  change  of  scene  and  associations  might  ameli- 
orate if  not  remove  the  mental  depression  that  had  come  re- 
cently into  his  life.  The  change  was  productive  of  good  results. 
In  a  few  months,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  himself  again,  and 
returning  to  old  Sangamon  County,  he  resumed  the  study  of 
law  with  his  old-time  ardor  and  enthusiasm. 

The  next  year,  1836,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.    This,  he 


Politics  and  Marriage  43 

and  his  friends  regarded  as  a  great  achievement.  He  had  begun 
and  pursued  the  study  of  law  under  unfavorable  circumstances; 
no  law  books  to  begin  with,  except  an  edition  of  Blackstone; 
he  had  to  depend  on  friends  at  Springfield,  twenty-five  miles 
away,  for  additional  books;  met  with  commercial  disaster, 
through  the  defalcation  of  a  dissipated  partner,  left  with  a 
heavy  debt  to  liquidate  (which  he  proceeded  manfully  to  do)  ; 
engaged  in  any  and  every  kind  of  employment,  physical  and 
mental,  that  would  keep  soul  and  body  in  the  same  neighbor- 
hood, and  afford  a  little  surplus  to  pay  on  the  above  named 
indebtedness.  Above  all  and  beyond  all  these  hardships  and 
disappointments,  he  lost  his  lovely  Ann.  This  nearly  drowned 
his  ambition  and  crushed  his  life.  To  most  young  men,  these 
would  have  been  insurmountable  difficulties;  but  not  so  with 
young  Lincoln.    In  him  was  the  "stuff  that  men  are  made  of." 

It  is  often  said  that  "Virtue  is  its  own  reward."  It  is  equally 
true  with  character  and  manhood.  During  the  few  years  that 
Lincoln  had  resided  in  Sangamon  County,  his  friends  and  fel- 
low citizens  had  learned  and  appreciated  his  worth  and  nobil- 
ity. In  1834  they  nominated  him  for  the  Legislature  and  tri- 
umphantly elected  him  thereto. 

Three  other  able  and  distinguished  citizens  of  the  county 
were  elected  to  the  same  Legislature;  but  history  records  the 
fact  that  he  received  the  largest  majority  of  any  of  them. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  three  times  re-elected  to  the  Legislature, 
making  four  times  in  all,  each  time  receiving  a  larger  majority 
vote  than  any  of  his  colleagues.  This  excited  not  a  little 
jealousy  in  the  minds  of  his  associates.  The  reason  is  quite 
plain.  He  had  been  a  resident  of  the  county  but  a  short  time, 
six  years  in  all,  a  man  without  education  or  prestige,  employed 
in  menial  labor  (as  others  might  term  it)  such  as  splitting 
rails,  chopping  wood  and  making  flat  boats.  While  his  Legis- 
lative associates  considered  themselves  as  picked  men,  eminent 


44  Abraham  Lincoln 

lawyers,  judges  and  the  like,  they  knew  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
a  poor  man  and  seemed  at  first  to  lightly  esteem  him.  Had 
he  repudiated  his  debts  and  gone  into  bankruptcy  (as  many 
would  have  done  in  his  circumstances)  he  probably  would  have 
accumulated  some  property,  before  going  to  the  Legislature, 
and  he  could  then  say,  as  Benjamin  Franklin  made  poor  Rich- 
ard say :  "Now  I  have  a  pig  and  a  cow,  and  every  man  bids  me 
good  morning." 

A  few  ducats  in  a  man's  pocket  raises  him  mightily  in  the 
estimation  of  some  men.  When  his  associates  started  to  the 
Capitol  they  were  able  to  ride  on  fine  horses  or  in  costly  car- 
riages to  Vandalia,  while  Lincoln,  unable  to  own  either,  would 
throw  his  boots  over  his  shoulders  and  hike  it  to  the  Capitol. 
This  is  what  he  called  riding  on  "shanks  mare."  He  would 
often  arrive  there  by  cross-lot  procedure,  as  soon  as  his  asso- 
ciates would,  though  75  miles  from  his  home.  When  he  arose 
to  speak,  with  his  tall  form  and  commanding  presence,  and 
with  a  tongue  and  argument  at  once  eloquent  and  convincing, 
he  would  usually  carry  every  measure  before  him.  The  light 
esteem  (if  not  disrespect)  in  which  he  was  formerly  held  soon 
gave  way  to  admiration  and  support  by  his  legislative  associ- 
ates. In  public  debate  or  address,  he  was  forceful,  pungent; 
in  repartee,  was  unexcelled,  and  woe  to  an  antagonist  on  whose 
head  he  would  draw  down  the  fire. 

Isaac  N.  Arnold,  in  his  "Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  force- 
fully illustrates  these  qualities.  He  speaks  concerning  a  great 
political  meeting  to  be  held  at  the  Court  House  at  Springfield, 
at  which  a  number  of  Legislative  candidates  were  to  speak, 
Lincoln  among  the  number. 

This  was  his  first  appearance  at  the  county  seat  "on  the 
stump,"  and  the  people  were  on  tip  toe  to  hear  him.  After 
the  several  candidates,  both  Whig  and  Democratic,  had  spoken 
it  fell  to  Mr.  Lincoln  to  close  the  discussion.    This  he  did  with 


Politics  and  Marriage  45 

great  ability.  There  lived  in  Springfield  a  prominent  citizen 
by  the  name  of  George  Forquer.  He  had  been  prominent  in 
public  life  as  a  leading  Whig,  the  same  party  to  which  Lincoln 
belonged.  He  had  recently  changed  his  political  affiliations 
and  gone  over  to  the  Democratic  party,  and  in  recognition  of 
his  ability  and  influence,  the  Democratic  administration  had 
appointed  him  to  the  lucrative  post  of  registrar  of  the  land 
office  at  Springfield.  On  his  fine  residence,  he  had  recently 
placed  a  lightning  rod,  the  first  ever  put  up  in  Sangamon 
County. 

In  riding  into  the  city,  Lincoln  had  observed  the  novelty 
of  a  lightning  rod  and  discussed  the  manner  in  which  it  might 
protect  the  house  from  being  struck  with  lightning. 

Now  this  Forquer,  though  not  a  candidate,  asked  to  be 
heard  as  a  Democrat  in  reply  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  was  a  good 
speaker  and  thought  it  his  duty  to  attack  and  ridicule  the  young 
countryman  from  New  Salem.  He  began  by  saying,  "This 
young  man  must  be  taken  down,  and  I  am  truly  sorry  the  task 
devolves  on  me."  He  then  proceeded,  as  Mr.  Arnold  says,  in 
a  very  overbearing  way,  and  with  an  assumption  of  great 
superiority,  to  attack  Lincoln  and  his  speech.  He  used  sarcasm 
and  vituperation  in  his  further  effort  to  belittle  Mr.  Lincoln, 
so  much  so  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  friends  began  to  fear  that  he 
might  become  embarrassed  and  unable  to  cope  with  his  an- 
tagonist. But  their  fears  were  soon  allayed.  As  soon  as 
Forquer  had  closed,  Mr.  Lincoln  came  to  the  front  and  fully 
and  completely  answered  his  opponent. 

He  began  saying,  "The  gentleman  (meaning  Forquer)  com- 
menced his  speech  by  saying  that  'this  young  man,'  meaning 
me,  must  be  taken  down.  I  am  not  so  young  in  years  as  I  am 
in  the  tricks  and  trades  of  a  politician,  but,"  said  he,  pointing 
to  Forquer,  "live  or  die  young,  I  would  rather  die  now,  than, 
like  the  gentleman,  change  my  politics,  and  with  the  change 


46  Abraham  Lincoln 

receive  an  office  worth  three  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  then," 
continues  he,  "feel  obliged  to  erect  a  lightning  rod  over  my 
house  to  protect  a  guilty  conscience  from  an  offended  God." 
Enough  said.  The  electrical  effect  on  the  audience,  then  and 
there  produced,  can  be  better  imagined  than  described.  Lin- 
coln had  won  his  day. 

In  the  Legislative  session  of  1837,  an  effort  was  made  and 
finally  a  law  was  enacted,  to  remove  the  State  capitol  from 
Vandalia  to  Springfield.  It  appears  that  Sangamon  County 
had  two  Senators  and  seven  Representatives,  known  as  the  long 
nine,  each  being  six  feet  and  over  in  height,  and  men  of  dis- 
tinction, in  that  session.  Each  used  his  influence  and  best 
endeavor  for  the  success  of  the  measure,  but  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  the  most  effective  and  distinguished  participant.  There 
was  much  opposition  to  the  removal  proposition  to  Springfield, 
there  being  nearly  a  dozen  competing  cities  for  the  prize — 
six  being  very  active  rivals. 

Miss  Ida  M.  Tarbell,  in  her  "Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln," 
says,  "No  event  prior  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise ever  happened  in  Illinois  which  created  so  much  excite- 
ment as  the  removal  of  the  State  capitol." 

For  a  while  the  fate  of  the  bill  hung  in  a  balance.  At  one 
time  to  all  appearances,  the  bill  was  dead  "and  beyond  resus- 
citation," as  one  writer  declared.  All  eyes  were  now  turned 
to  Lincoln.  He  spoke  in  glowing  terms  of  the  meritorious 
claims  of  Springfield  as  the  logical  site  and  location  for  the 
new  capitol;  and  proceeding  in  a  forceful  presentation  of  his 
subject,  and  with  convincing,  compelling,  propelling  eloquence, 
he  swept,  like  an  avalanche,  everything  before  him.  All  knew 
that  success  was  assured.  The  first  ballot  brought  more  votes 
for  Springfield  than  any  two  rivals  combined,  and  the  fourth 
ballot  brought  the  coveted  victory.  Springfield  received  the 
good  news  with  great  rejoicing,   and  when  the  "long  nine" 


Politics  and  Marriage  47 

returned  to  their  home,  Springfield,  they  were  honored  with 
numerous  banquets,  were  dined  and  wined,  but  Abraham  Lin- 
coln was  the  hero,  the  lion  of  the  occasion. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  Legislature  in  March,  1837, 
Mr.  Lincoln  decided  to  remove  to  Springfield,  the  seat  of  the 
new  capitol,  to  commence  his  life  work  as  an  attorney  at  law. 
He  had  been  a  resident  of  New  Salem  for  a  period  of  about 
six  years  and  he  readily  saw  that  it  never  could  compete  with 
the  capital  in  point  of  business  nor  afford  him  the  advantages 
for  a  successful  legal  career  that  would  be  given  him  in  the 
new  location.  Springfield  was  then  a  small  town  of  about 
one  thousand  inhabitants,  while  the  population  of  New  Salem 
was  rapidly  declining  and  in  a  year  or  so  became  non-existent. 

So  Mr.  Lincoln  sold  his  surveying  outfit  for  a  few  dollars, 
packed  his  small  effects,  including  a  few  law  books,  into  his 
saddle-bags,  and  mounting  a  horse  loaned  him  by  his  good 
friend,  Bowling  Green,  started  for  Springfield,  twenty-five 
miles  away.  He  was  known  in  the  city  as  an  eminent  Legis- 
lator and  a  distinguished  orator,  but  had  no  record  as  a  lawyer. 
They  remembered  and  appreciated  him  for  the  great  service 
he  had  rendered  their  city  in  securing  the  bringing  of  the 
capitol  to  Springfield,  and  hence  were  in  a  position  to  receive 
him  with  open  arms  and  great  cordiality. 

It  was  quite  fortunate  for  the  young  lawyer  that  in  the 
new  city  he  had  a  warm  friend  in  the  person  of  the  Hon. 
John  T.  Stewart.  He  was  a  distinguished  Whig  who  had  aided 
and  befriended  young  Lincoln  by  loaning  him  law  books,  had 
encouraged  him  in  the  study  thereof,  and  had  served  a  term 
or  so  with  him  in  the  State  Legislature. 

He  knew  the  latent  talent,  and  anticipated  the  brilliant 
career  of  the  young  attorney,  and  at  once  offered  him  a  law 
partnership.  This  was  accepted  gladly  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  as 
Mr.  Stewart  was  an  old  resident,  an  eminent  lawyer  and  en- 


48  Abraham  Lincoln 

joyed  a  good  legal  practice.  The  firm  of  Stewart  and  Lincoln 
continued  for  four  years,  having  a  respectable  if  not  a  lucra- 
tive practice  during  the  entire  period  of  their  partnership. 

It  was  fortunate  that  during  this  time  Mr.  Lincoln  had  the 
privilege  of  measuring  intellectual  swords  with  many  attor- 
neys who  were  very  able  at  the  bar,  and  who  attained  subse- 
quent renown.  The  list  included  the  names  of  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  who  was  Lincoln's  strong  political  rival  for  twenty 
years,  Judge  Stephen  T.  Logan,  Ninian  W.  Edwards,  John  T. 
Stewart  and  several  others. 

Mr.  Lincoln  often  met  these  eminent  lawyers  in  legal  battle 
array  and  was  soon  able  to  cope  with  the  best  of  them.  This 
was  especially  true  in  jury  trials.  He  possessed  a  logical  mind 
and  was  very  lucid  in  his  ability  to  reason  from  cause  to  effect. 
Besides  this,  he  possessed  a  facility  for  copious  and  extended 
illustrations,  by  means  of  which  he  seldom  failed  to  convince 
the  most  obdurate  juryman  of  the  merit  of  his  case  and  win 
his  vote  in  the  final  deliberation  of  the  trial  in  the  jury  room. 
During  the  six  years  of  his  residence  in  Sangamon  County  he 
had  established  a  reputation  for  honesty  which  stood  him  well 
in  all  the  subsequent  activities  of  life,  whether  civil,  profes- 
sional or  political.  "Honest  Abe"  was  the  sobriquet  that  people 
by  common  consent,  had  everywhere  given  him. 

Furthermore,  it  became  known,  possibly  by  his  own  state- 
ment, that  he  never  would  accept  a  case  from  any  client  unless 
he  knew  or  felt  assured  that  his  cause  was  meritorious.  From 
this,  we  can  readily  observe  what  a  powerful  influence  he 
would  have  over  both  court  and  jury  in  the  trial  of  a  case. 
Any  statement  by  him  of  law  or  fact  was  taken  in  court  as 
valid  without  question  or  controversy. 

He  trusted  the  common  people,  or  masses,  from  whom  the 
jury  in  that  new  country  was  selected,  and  they  in  turn  loved 
and  trusted  him.     Little  wonder  that  in  a  short  time,  inside  a 


Politics  and  Marriage  49 

decade,  say,  he  became  one  of  the  greatest  jury  lawyers  in  the 
State.  He  was  frequently  called  to  the  large  cities,  like  Rock 
Island  or  Chicago,  etc.,  in  his  own  State,  to  Cincinnati  and 
elsewhere  in  other  States  to  try  important  legal  cases.  Not- 
withstanding his  marked  ability  and  reputation  as  a  trial  law- 
yer, he  was  always  modest  in  his  charges,  and  thus  was  in 
moderate  circumstances  only,  through  life. 

At  one  time  he  had  a  law  partner  who  was  disposed  to 
charge  fees  for  legal  services  in  excess  of  what  Mr.  Lincoln 
deemed  just  and  right.  On  a  given  occasion,  in  the  absence 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  partner  charged  a  widow  the  sum  of  $150 
for  service  formerly  rendered.  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  returning, 
compelled  his  partner  to  refund  a  part  of  the  fee,  stating  that 
it  was  exorbitant,  and  that  its  acceptance  would  be  taking  food 
from  the  mouths  of  the  half-orphaned  children.  Other  inci- 
dents of  a  similar  nature  could  be  named.  Five  thousand  dol- 
lars was  the  highest  fee  he  ever  obtained  for  his  legal  service 
in  any  case.  This  was  obtained  from  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company,  for  a  litigated  case,  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
successful  in  all  the  lower  and  intermediate  courts  up  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  For  the  interests  involved 
and  the  time  employed  in  thus  defending  the  company  the  fee 
demanded  by  Mr.  Lincoln  was  considered  a  reasonable  one, 
both  by  himself  and  his  associates  at  the  bar;  but  he  had  to 
sue  the  corporation  to  secure  his  pay.  Judge  David  Davis, 
before  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  practiced  so  long,  once  stated  that 
rarely  did  Mr.  Lincoln  receive  as  much  as  that  in  the  aggregate 
for  a  year's  service. 

The  judicial  circuit  of  which  David  Davis  was  the  presiding 
judge  was  a  large  one.  It  took  many  weeks,  sometimes  months, 
to  make  the  rounds.  Mr.  Lincoln  and  other  attorneys  would 
mount  their  steeds  and  accompany  the  judge  to  the  different 
county  seats  till  the  entire  circuit  was  completed.  Mr.  Lincoln 


50  Abraham  Lincoln 

was  the  soul  and  inspiration  of  the  company,  on  their  lonely 
journey  and  at  the  hotels  where  they  lodged  during  court  week. 

Lincoln  was  given  to  relating  mirth-provoking  stories  both 
at  the  hotels  and  at  the  court  room,  when  not  engaged  in  the 
trial  of  a  case.  Occasionally  he  would  tell  a  story  or  relate 
an  anecdote  that  would  evoke  such  a  demonstration  of  applause 
or  laughter  as  to  interfere  with  the  peaceable  procedure  of  the 
court.  Judge  Davis  would  turn  and  rebuke  him  at  times  by 
saying:  "Mr.  Lincoln,  unless  you  desist  from  thus  interrupting 
the  court,  it  will  be  obliged  to  fine  you  or  adjourn  court." 
Lincoln  would  subside  for  a  while,  but  soon  another  story  or 
anecdote  would  be  forthcoming,  and  the  usual  laughter  ensue. 
The  clerk  of  court  was  excited  to  prolonged  laughter  on  hear- 
ing one  of  these  stories,  and  was  fined  $10  by  the  judge. 

At  the  close  of  the  court  session,  Judge  Davis  asked  the 
clerk  what  story  of  Lincoln  it  was  that  so  pleased  him.  The 
clerk  replied  by  reciting  the  anecdote.  The  judge  was  almost 
convulsed  with  laughter  thereby,  and  at  once  remitted  the 
clerk's  fine.  The  latter  replied  that  he  was  willing  to  pay  the 
$10,  as  it  was  worth  all  it  would  cost. 

In  the  year  1839,  or  about  that  time,  Mr.  Lincoln  first  met 
Miss  Mary  Todd.  She  was  from  Lexington,  Kentucky,  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  Hon.  Robert  S.  Todd,  a  leading  citizen  of  the  Blue 
Grass  State.  Miss  Todd  at  this  time  was  about  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  finely  educated,  a  lady  of  refinement  and  culture, 
with  a  charming  personality,  at  once  attractive  and  winning. 

She  came  to  Springfield  to  make  her  home  with  her  eldest 
sister,  Mrs.  Edwards,  whose  husband,  the  Hon.  Ninian  W. 
Edwards,  was  a  colleague  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  State  Legis- 
lature. He  was  also  a  son  of  Ex-Governor  Edwards  of  Ken- 
tucky, who  was  a  United  States  Senator  at  one  time. 

Mr.  Joseph  H.  Barrett,  a  historian  of  Lincoln,  speaks  thus 
complimentary  of  her:  "She  was  a  lady  of  unusual  personal 


Politics  and  Marriage  51 

attractions  and  bright,  intellectual  faculties.  She  was  also 
of  agreeable  manners.  She  was  not  long  without  admirers,  if 
she  may  not  have  been  properly  called  the  'belle'  of  the  place." 
The  higher  and  more  exclusive  circles  of  her  native  city  to 
which  she  belonged  were  unsurpassed  in  social  refinement  and 
mental  culture  in  any  Southern  community  of  the  time,  west  of 
the  Alleghenies.  In  consequence  of  these  and  other  accom- 
plishments, the  same  writer  goes  on  to  remark  that  "Mary  Todd 
was  undoubtedly  the  best  suited  to  win  Mr.  Lincoln's  admira- 
tion and  a  more  tender  regard."  "Abraham  Lincoln  and  His 
Presidency,"  Joseph  H.  Barrett,  LL.D.  Vol.  1,  Page  61-D. 
Appleton  &  Company,  N.  Y.,  Publishers.) 

There  was,  however,  a  disparity  in  their  ages,  he  being  in 
his  thirty-first  year  and  she  being  in  her  twenty-first.  There 
was  also  a  dissimilarity  in  their  early  training  and  in  their 
social  standing,  as  well  as  in  their  mental  equipment.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln became  an  early  suitor  (as  did  Judge  Douglas)  and 
waiving  these  dissimilarities,  soon  laid  siege  to  her  affections. 
Miss  Todd  kept  him  at  bay,  however,  for  a  long  time  before 
she  capitulated. 

She  was  finally  disposed  to  waive  any  objections  she  may 
have  entertained  in  consequence  of  the  disparagements  of  ages, 
social  standing  and  intellectual  attainments  between  them,  and 
receive  his  attentions  on  the  basis  of  his  manly  worth  and  the 
nobility  of  his  character.  She  recognized  the  fact  that  while 
he  was  tall  and  ungainly,  he  was  also  kind  hearted,  modest 
and  amiable.  The  year  following  their  first  introduction,  1840, 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  completing  his  fourth  term  as  a  member  of 
the  Illinois  Legislature,  and  during  the  summer  of  the  same 
year  he  canvassed  the  State  in  the  interest  of  General  Harrison, 
who  was  a  candidate  of  the  Whig  party  for  the  presidency  of 
the  United  States.  During  his  eight  years  of  service  as  a 
legislator,  he  had  distinguished  himself  as  an  eminent  law- 
maker and  a  most  impressive  and  eloquent  public  speaker. 


52  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  prestige  thus  obtained  was  supplemented  and  enlarged 
by  his  great  political  campaign  for  Harrison,  wherein  he  was 
recognized  as  one  of  the  foremost,  if  not  the  foremost,  political 
orator  of  the  Nation. 

Miss  Todd  could  not  be  other  than  proud  and  quite  proud 
of  her  ardent  lover.  She  doubtless  thought  that  a  man  so 
young  and  occupying  a  position  so  commanding,  would  prob- 
ably attain  to  positions  still  higher  and  possibly  become  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  This  thought  cropped  out  a  year  or 
so  later,  when,  subsequent  to  their  engagement,  she  wrote  to 
a  girl  friend  and  mentioned  some  of  the  defects  of  her  intended, 
and  added:  "But  I  mean  to  make  him  President  of  the  United 
States.  You  will  see  as  I  always  told  you,  I  will  yet  be  the 
President's  wife."  You  will  infer  that  after  a  somewhat  pro- 
tracted acquaintance  and  courtship,  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Miss 
Mary  Todd  became  engaged.  But  it  often  happens  that  "the 
course  of  true  love  never  runs  smooth."  Before  the  day  was 
set  for  the  wedding,  for  some  unknown  and  unaccountable 
reason,  the  engagement  was  broken.  It  was  thought  by  some 
that  a  serious  illness  of  Mr.  Lincoln  or  a  sad  mental  depression 
(with  which  he  had  formerly  been  affected)  was  the  cause  of 
the  sudden  alienation. 

Considering  the  standing  of  the  high  contracting  parties, 
the  news  of  the  disengagement  must  have  created  in  the  capital 
city  quite  a  sensation.  This,  in  the  mind  of  the  writer,  need 
not  necessarily  have  been  so;  for  often  lovers'  quarrels  and 
pre-nuptial  misunderstandings  occur,  and  that  "in  the  best 
of  families." 

In  a  few  months,  Mr.  Lincoln  "became  himself"  again, 
mutual  friendship  and  love  were  restored,  the  engagement  re- 
newed, and  on  November  fourth,  1842,  their  happy  marriage 
occurred.  So  far  as  is  known,  they  lived  a  joyous  and  happy 
life  ever  after.     In  a  few  months,  he  wrote  to  his  old  friend, 


Politics  and  Marriage  53 

Joshua  T.  Speed,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  saying  that,  "We 
are  not  keeping  house,  but  boarding  at  the  Globe  Tavern, 
Springfield,  which  is  very  well  kept  now  by  a  widow  lady. 
Our  rooms  are  the  same  as  Dr.  Wallace  occupied  there,  and 
boarding  only  costs  four  dollars  a  week  for  us  both.  I  most 
heartily  wish  you  and  your  family  will  not  fail  to  come,  and 
we  will  all  be  merry  together  for  a  while." 

Mrs.  Lincoln  sympathized  and  aided  her  husband  in  his 
struggles  for  advancement  in  law  and  for  his  political  pro- 
motion in  subsequent  years. 

Col.  Alex  K.  McClure,  in  writing  concerning  her,  says: 
"She  was  gifted  with  a  rare  insight  into  the  motives  that  actuate 
mankind,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  Lincoln's  success  was,  in 
a  measure,  attributable  to  her  acuteness  and  the  stimulus  of 
her  influence." 

I  desire  now  to  make  brief  mention  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lin- 
coln's family.  I  draw  wholly  from  my  memory  and  may  not 
be  quite  accurate  in  some  of  the  details.  But  in  the  main,  I 
feel  satisfied  that  I  am  correct. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  there  were  born  four  sons,  Robert 
T.,  Edward,  Willie  and  Thomas,  called  Tad.  Robert  died 
recently.  Edward  died  at  Springfield  before  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
elected  to  the  presidency.  Willie  died  at  the  White  House,  in 
the  early  days  of  the  war.  This  nearly  crushed  the  heart  of 
the  noble  President.  "Tad,"  the  youngest,  and  the  idol  and 
solace  of  his  father  during  the  dark  days  of  the  war,  died  at 
the  age  of  18,  at  his  brother  Robert's  home  in  Chicago.  Robert 
Lincoln  was  a  man  of  respectable  scholastic  and  legal  attain- 
ments, but  never  possessed  the  native  ability  of  his  father.  He 
was  a  fair  public  speaker,  only;  while  Lincoln  the  elder  stood 
without  a  peer  scarcely  in  all  the  domain  of  political  and 
forensic  oratory  in  America.    Peace  to  his  ashes  and  memory. 

Robert  married  the  charming  and  cultured  daughter   of 


54  Abraham  Lincoln 

Senator  and  Mrs.  Harlan  of  Mt.  Pleasant,  Iowa.  Senator  Harlan 
was  in  Lincoln's  cabinet  at  one  time.  There,  Robert  met  and 
wooed  his  brilliant  lady.  To  this  union,  one  son,  Abraham, 
and  three  daughters,  I  believe,  were  born.  Incidentally,  I  might 
say  that  Mary  Harlan  Lincoln  was  a  friend  and  college  mate 
of  Mrs.  Hart,  my  wife,  when  they  were  both  students  at  the 
Mt.  Pleasant  University,  way  back  in  the  sixties. 

With  the  death  of  Robert  Lincoln,  and  it  is  a  sad  thought, 
the  last  lineal  male  descendant  of  the  great  President  has  gone. 

Robert  Lincoln  attained  public  distinction  early,  largely 
through  his  father's  prestige.  He  was  a  member  of  President 
Garfield's  cabinet,  and  afterwards  was  minister  at  the  Court 
of  St.  James.  He  served  as  president  of  the  great  Pullman 
corporation  of  Chicago.  He  evidently  deemed  a  rich  salaried 
position  preferable  to  the  financial  uncertainties  of  a  political 
career.  While  in  London  his  dear,  loving  boy,  his  own  and 
the  Nation's  pride,  departed  this  life.  All  people  of  this  great 
Republic,  as  well  as  his  parents,  felt  they  were  in  the  shadow 
of  this  great  sorrow,  knowing  full  well  that  soon  no  one  would 
be  left  to  perpetuate  the  name  and  fame  of  the  great  Eman- 
cipator. 

Former  mention  has  been  made  concerning  the  nomination 
of  General  Harrison  for  the  presidency  on  the  Whig  ticket 
and  Mr.  Lincoln's  participation  therein.    This  was  in  1840. 

Early  in  the  year  there  seemed  a  possibility  of  electing 
him,  and  this  stimulated  activity  among  members  of  the  Whig 
party,  even  in  states  where  the  party  was  largely  in  the 
minority. 

The  Democratic  party,  whose  presidential  candidate  was 
Martin  Van  Buren,  taunted  the  Whigs  as  being  a  party  of  "Log 
cabins  and  hard  cider,"  because  General  Harrison  had  lived  in 
a  log  cabin  and  was  very  fond  of  hard  cider.  The  taunts  and 
sneers  proved  to  be  a  boomerang  to  the  Van  Buren  party,  for 


Politics  and  Marriage  55 

it  certainly  recoiled  on  them  to  their  great  disadvantage  as 
the  campaign  proceeded. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  nominated  for  presidential  elector, 
and  threw  himself  into  the  canvass  with  all  the  ardor  and 
ability  at  his  command.  In  whatever  city,  town  or  hamlet  he 
went,  vast  crowds  attended  his  meetings,  for  his  reputation  as 
a  distinguished  platform  orator  had  preceded  him.  The  rank 
and  file  of  the  Whig  party  had  adopted  the  slogan,  "Hard  cider 
and  log  cabin"  (hurled  at  them  contemptuously  by  their  oppon- 
ents) and  used  it  to  the  great  discomfiture  of  their  enemies. 
They  came  to  these  Lincoln  meetings  in  great  throngs,  bearing 
in  their  wagons  and  prairie  schooners,  miniature  log  cabins 
and  thousands  of  kegs  of  hard  cider.  This  beverage  had  an 
exhilarating  and  happy  effect  on  the  vast  numbers  attending, 
especially  on  the  Democrats  themselves,  who  came  in  great 
numbers  to  have  their  native  thirst  for  the  "ardent"  quenched. 
This  was  productive  of  the  desired  results;  for  probably 
enough  Democrats  were  won  over  to  the  Whig  party  in  many 
states  to  give  the  electoral  vote  to  Harrison.  General  Harrison 
won  his  election  that  fall,  and  Lincoln  contributed  a  very  im- 
portant part  in  securing  the  happy  result.  Lincoln  rejoiced 
greatly  over  the  triumph  of  the  Whig  party,  knowing  that  it 
would  give  prestige  and  standing  to  the  party  in  many  states, 
and  especially  to  his  own  state.  This  proved  true,  as  it  aided 
the  election  of  a  Whig  friend  of  Lincoln  to  Congress  that  fall, 
as  I  recall,  and  very  much  aided  Mr.  Lincoln  himself,  in  his 
aspirations  for  Congress,  which  were  realized  a  few  years  later. 


CHAPTER  III. 
Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates 

During  the  interval  between  great  political  campaigns, 
Mr.  Lincoln  devoted  his  time  and  energy  to  the  suc- 
cessful practice  of  the  law.  He  had  always  entertained 
a  high  regard  and  admiration  for  Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky, 
and  when  he  was  nominated  for  President  by  the  Whig  party 
in  1844,  he  threw  himself  into  the  Clay  campaign  with  all  the 
ardor  and  ability  of  former  years.  This  year  (1844)  Lincoln 
was  a  presidential  elector,  as  he  was  in  the  "Tippecanoe  and 
Tyler  too"  campaign  of  1840.  He  spoke  extensively  in  his 
own  state  and  also  in  the  State  of  Indiana.  One  of  his  appoint- 
ments was  near  Gentryville,  the  scene  of  his  boyhood  and 
early  manhood  days. 

He  delivered  an  address  at  the  old  Carter  school  house, 
where  he  had  formerly  attended  school  and  where  he  met  many 
friends  of  his  earlier  days.  This  was  a  source  of  great  pleasure 
to  him.  He  was  entertained  by  Josiah  Crawford  who,  I  believe, 
had  purchased  the  old  homestead  from  Thomas  Lincoln  some 
twelve  or  fourteen  years  before.  Lincoln  took  great  delight  in 
pointing  out  the  various  objects  of  interest  with  which  he  was 
familiar  in  his  boyhood  days,  the  old  swimming  pool,  the 
mill,  the  grocery  store,  the  blacksmith  shop,  and  the  places 
where  he  had  worked  as  a  day  laborer.  His  old  neighbors  and 
friends  were  surprised  as  well  as  delighted  at  the  accuracy 
with  which  he  pointed  out  "every  fond  object,  his  infancy 
knew." 

Afterwards,  his  pent-up  emotions  found  expression  through 
his  pen  in  verses,  the  first  stanza  of  which  is  as  follows: 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  57 

"My  childhood's  hope,  I  see  again, 
And  sadden  with  the  view; 
And  still,  as  memory  crowds  the  brain, 
There's  pleasure  in  it  too." 

The  merit  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  poetry  did  not  keep  pace  with 
that  of  his  oratory;  for  is  it  not  somewhere  written,  that  a 
"Poeta  nascetur,  non  fit,"  or  words  to  that  effect?  It  has 
been  fifty-five  years  since  I  studied  Latin,  and  I  may  be  a  little 
rusty.  However,  it  may  be  truthfully  said  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  "a  born  orator,"  if  not  a  born  poet. 

Neither  Mr.  Lincoln's  oratory,  as  shown  in  his  great  politi- 
cal addresses,  nor  that  of  Mr.  Clay,  himself,  could  save  the  day. 

In  the  fall  of  1844,  Clay  and  the  Whig  party  went  to 
defeat  after  one  of  the  most  exciting  political  campaigns  that 
ever  occurred  in  the  United  States.  His  political  activity,  not- 
ably his  opposition  to  the  admission  of  Texas,  or  rather  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  to  the  United  States,  was  the  direct  cause, 
or  occasion,  of  his  defeat,  as  was  thought  by  many. 

For  nearly  forty  years  Clay  was  active  and  eminent  in  con- 
structive legislation,  in  statesmanship  and  diplomacy,  and  now 
to  be  suppressed  by  his  countrymen,  whom  he  had  loved  and 
served  so  well,  nearly  crushed  his  proud  spirit.  He  had  been 
three  times  nominated  for  the  presidency,  in  '24,  '32  and  '44, 
and  as  many  times  defeated,  and  now,  to  him,  there  seemed 
little  left  in  life  worth  living  for,  and  he  practically  retired 
from  public  life.  However,  in  '49,  he  consented  to  resume  his 
seat  in  the  Senate  to  help  settle  the  contest  between  the  slave- 
holding  and  anti-slavery  parties  on  the  California  and  terri- 
torial questions.  The  labor  and  excitement  incident  to  the 
solving  of  these  great  problems  exhausted  his  already  enfeebled 
constitution,  and  in  1852  he  went  to  his  grave. 

Continuing  my  digression  a  little  farther,  I  desire  to  say 


58  Abraham  Lincoln 

that  the  public  career  of  James  G.  Blaine  was  somewhat  similar 
and  ran  parallel  to  that  of  Henry  Clay. 

Mr.  Blaine  was  an  eminent  statesman  of  the  last  half  of 
the  past  century.  He  was  a  distinguished  and  active  partici- 
pant in  all  the  legislative  enactments  and  activities  of  the  Civil 
War;  was  a  warm  supporter  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  adminis- 
tration during  all  the  dark  years  of  the  great  rebellion,  and 
was  a  wise  counsellor  and  safe  legislator  during  the  weary 
years  of  reconstruction.  He  was  in  both  branches  of  the 
National  Congress  for  a  period  of  twenty  years,  and  was  twice 
Secretary  of  State.  Like  Henry  Clay,  he  was  three  times  a 
candidate  for  the  nomination  for  President  of  the  United 
States,  in  '76,  '80  and  '84.  The  last  time  (in  '84)  he  was 
successful  in  his  nomination,  but  was  defeated  at  the  fall  elec- 
tion. This  was  a  great,  great  disappointment  to  Mr.  Blaine 
and  his  numerous  friends.  No  one  anticipated  such  a  result 
No  Republican  since  the  days  of  Lincoln  was  held  in  higher 
esteem  or  had  a  greater  following  than  Senator  Blaine.  Like 
Clay,  he  was  regarded  a  great  commoner  and  a  statesman  of 
the  first  rank;  but  like  Clay,  he  went  to  his  grave  in  the 
shadow  of  a  great  disappointment. 

Both  had  in  anticipation  the  presidential  chair  and  White 
House  as  their  final  goal,  and  both  realized  the  significance 
(sad  though  it  be)  of  the  poem,  which  declares: 

"The  boast  of  heraldry,  the  pomp  of  power, 
And  all  that  beauty,  all  that  wealth  'ere  gave, 
Await  alike  the  inevitable  hour; 
The  path  of  glory  leads  but  to  the  grave." 

Returning  now  to  the  narrative  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  would 
say  that  owing  to  his  prestige  and  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  legis- 
lator and  political  orator,  he  would  be  and  should  be  a  can- 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  59 

dictate  for  Congress  at  the  ensuing  congressional  convention, 
that  of  1842.  But  as  an  old-time  friend,  Edward  D.  Baker, 
was  a  candidate  for  the  same  position  that  year,  he  graciously 
waived  his  desire  and  ambition  for  the  place,  and  supported 
him.  He  did  a  similar  thing  for  General  Hardin  in  '44.  Both 
of  the  above  named  aspirants  were  elected  in  Congress,  and 
largely  so  through  the  great  influence  and  support  of  Mr. 
Lincoln.  In  1846,  both  Mr.  Lincoln  and  General  Hardin  were 
candidates  for  Congress,  but  the  General  finally  withdrew  his 
candidacy,  and  in  a  manly  and  generous  letter,  agreed  to  sup- 
port Mr.  Lincoln.  This  friendly  and  reciprocal  act  of  General 
Hardin  was  warmly  approved  by  the  Whigs  of  the  district. 

All  conceded  that  "both  men  were  so  much  loved  that  a 
break  between  them  would  have  been  a  disastrous  thing  for 
the  party."     In  May,  Mr.  Lincoln  received  the  nomination. 

The  Democrats  put  up  old  Peter  Cartright,  an  eccentric 
Methodist  preacher,  though  of  marked  ability,  as  their  nominee. 
They  went  on  the  assumption  that  inasmuch  as  old  Peter  had 
defeated  young  Lincoln  in  1832,  just  after  his  return  from 
the  Black  Hawk  War,  when  they  were  both  candidates  for  the 
Legislature,  that  he  could  do  it  again.  In  this  instance,  "they 
reckoned  without  their  host."  They  evidently  forgot  that 
back  in  '32,  Lincoln  was  scarcely  known  outside  the  small 
town  of  New  Salem,  while  in  '46,  fourteen  years  thereafter, 
his  name  was  a  household  word  in  nearly  every  city,  town 
and  hamlet  in  the  state.  During  these  years  he  had  become 
easily  the  foremost  statesman  in  the  great  commonwealth  of 
Illinois.  Thus  we  see  that  Rev.  Mr.  Cartright,  while  possess- 
ing local  fame,  was  in  no  condition  to  cope  with  this  giant 
debater  and  politician. 

Generous  and  tolerant  to  his  adversaries  as  always  was 
Lincoln,  he  was  not  without  the  innuendoes  and  misrepresenta- 
tions that  generally  attach  to  the  name  of  a  political  leader 


60  Abraham  Lincoln 

during  the  heat  of  a  campaign.  I  listened  intently  to  a  great 
political  address  he  once  delivered  (reference  to  which  I  will 
make  later)  and  during  the  hour  and  one-half  consumed  in 
its  delivery,  I  never  heard  him  speak  an  unkind  word  against 
any  or  all  who  opposed  him.  He  was  generous  to  a  fault  in 
any  allusion  he  might  make  to  an  opponent  or  to  the  position 
he  was  taking.  However,  at  times,  he  would  so  attack  a  man's 
public  record,  especially  his  legislative  record  (which  was 
public  property)  as  to  sweep  from  under  him  the  very  ground 
on  which  he  was  standing,  politically. 

Referring  now  to  the  aforesaid  congressional  campaign, 
suffice  it  to  say  that  at  the  ensuing  election,  he  was  elected  by 
a  handsome  majority,  and  soon  entered  upon  his  duties  as  a 
Congressman.  During  the  first  session  of  his  term  he  made 
three  carefully  prepared  addresses,  it  is  said,  and  it  is  but 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  was  listened  to  with  marked 
attention  during  their  delivery.  His  reputation,  like  that  of 
Henry  Clay  in  former  years,  as  an  orator,  had  preceded  him 
to  the  National  Capital.  His  attitude  on  the  slavery  question 
was  what  you  naturally  would  expect  it  to  be. 

He  threw  the  weight  of  his  great  ability  and  influence 
against  its  further  extension,  and  introduced  a  bill  to  suppress 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  where  it  then  existed, 
strange  as  it  may  now  appear.  His  bill,  however,  provided 
for  proper  compensation  to  the  owners  of  these  human  chattels, 
thus  to  be  liberated. 

Describing  and  denouncing  the  barbarism  of  slavery,  espe- 
cially at  the  capital  of  the  nation,  Mr.  Lincoln  used  these 
graphic  words:  "In  view  from  the  windows  of  the  capitol,  a 
sort  of  negro  livery  stable  existed,  where  droves  of  negroes 
were  collected,  temporarily  kept,  and  finally  taken  to  Southern 
markets,  precisely  like  droves  of  horses."  He  thought  it  hor- 
rible that  human  beings  should  be  kept  in  bondage  right  under 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  61 

the  dome  of  the  capitol  and  no  protestation  be  made.  He  did 
not  think  it  wise  nor  lawful  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  states 
where  it  already  existed  (as  will  be  noted  further  on)  but  the 
power  of  Congress  in  the  District  of  Columbia  being  supreme, 
it  should  proceed  at  once,  as  he  thought,  to  abolish  it.  The 
pro-slavery  sentiment  in  Congress  at  that  time  was  so  strong 
that  Mr.  Lincoln's  bill,  wise  in  its  inception  and  beneficent  in 
its  import,  never  was  allowed  to  be  reported.  Mr.  Lincoln  evi- 
dently thought  as  he  returned  to  his  home  city,  at  the  end  of 
his  term,  that  his  efforts  for  the  liberation  of  the  black  man 
had  been  of  little  worth. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  man  of  brave  heart,  but  brave  as  he 
was  a  tinge  of  sadness  must  have  possessed  him  when  he  found 
that  his  first  attempt  to  lighten  the  burden  of  the  bond  man 
was  opposed  by  all,  and  that  he  stood  alone.  Yet  he  was  not 
alone,  for  his  Lord  was  with  him;  for  is  it  not  true  that  God 
and  one  constitute  a  majority,  always?  The  slave  oligarchy 
at  Washington  evidently  concluded  that  by  refusing  to  intro- 
duce and  engross  the  Lincoln  bill  they  would  effectually  sup- 
press the  fanatic  and  agitator  from  Illinois,  and  bury  him  and 
his  cause  deep,  beyond  the  power  of  resurrection.  But  such 
was  not  the  case.    For 

"Truth  crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again, 
The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers, 
But  error  falling,  writhes  in  pain, 
And  dies  amid  her  worshipers." 

The  proposition  that  slavery  was  a  divine  institution  was 
shot  through  and  through  a  thousand  times,  a  few  years  later, 
the  last  ball  being  fired  from  Appomattox.  Best  of  all,  this 
despised  Lincoln  directed  the  shooting,  and  that  from  the 
White  House  at  Washington.  "The  mills  of  the  gods  grind 
slowly,  but  they  grind  exceeding  small." 


62  Abraham  Lincoln 

Mr.  Lincoln,  while  in  Congress,  was  strenuously  opposed 
to  the  Mexican  War  and  its  prosecution.  He  claimed,  and 
justly  so,  in  the  minds  of  many,  that  there  was  no  just  cause 
for  the  war,  and  the  vast  expenditure  of  treasure  and  blood 
involved  thereby  should  be  avoided.  The  Democratic  party 
and  its  President,  James  K.  Polk,  who  had  precipitated  the 
war,  censured  Mr.  Lincoln  severely  for  the  position  he  had 
taken,  but  the  whole  Whig  party  and  many  others  warmly  sus- 
tained him  in  his  opposition. 

Notwithstanding  his  hostility  to  the  war,  whenever  a  meas- 
ure was  introduced  in  Congress  providing  for  the  support  and 
equipment  of  the  men  in  the  field,  he  gave  it  his  hearty  endorse- 
ment. I  think,  by  the  consensus  of  public  opinion  during  and 
since  that  war,  Mr.  Lincoln  has  been  fully  sustained.  A  noted 
writer,  in  speaking  of  the  Mexican  War,  states:  "The  whole 
Whig  party  denounced  it  at  the  time,  and  the  whole  nation 
has  been  more  than  half  ashamed  of  it  ever  since."  President 
Polk  thought  doubtless  that  he  would  gain  prestige  for  his 
administration  by  declaring  war  against  a  nation,  weak  and 
friendly  though  it  was,  and  simply  for  a  fancied  wrong.  The 
same  writer  (above  alluded  to)  states  that,  "By  adroit  maneu- 
vers, Polk  had  forced  a  fight  upon  a  weak  and  reluctant  nation, 
and  had  made  to  his  own  people  false  statements  as  to  both 
the  facts  and  the  merits  of  the  quarrel."  I  merely  recite  these 
facts  to  show  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  fully  exonerated  from  any 
charge  as  to  any  false  or  unworthy  motive  he  may  have  enter- 
tained in  regard  to  that  war.  I  wish  to  speak  further  regard- 
ing the  result  or  outcome  of  that  war,  for  my  young  readers 
especially,  though  it  may  not  be  exactly  germane  to  a  bio- 
graphical sketch  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

At  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  Texas  had  severed 
its  connection  with  Mexico  and  had  been  admitted  into  our 
Union  as  a  sovereign  state.    A  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  63 

western  boundary  of  Texas  had  arisen  between  the  United 
States  and  Mexico.  This  could  and  should  have  been  adjusted 
by  treaty  or  other  peaceable  procedure  if  proper  diplomacy 
had  been  exercised.  But,  no.  In  the  mind  of  the  President, 
the  little  nation  south  of  the  Rio  Grande  must  be  humiliated, 
and  Polk  thought  the  United  States  was  the  proper  party  to  do 
the  job.  The  conflict  was  of  short  duration,  as  all  know,  and 
the  feeble  folk  down  there  sued  for  peace.  The  President  and 
his  cabinet  rejoiced  in  the  glorious  consummation,  and  the 
United  States  became  then  and  there,  forsooth,  in  the  mind 
of  the  executive,  one  of  the  great  powers,  if  not  the  greatest, 
on  earth. 

By  the  treaty  which  ensued  we  gained  California  and  sev- 
eral adjacent  states,  but  Mr.  Lincoln  maintained  and  so  do 
others,  that,  in  all  human  probability,  the  same  objects  could 
have  been  attained  without  such  loss  of  life  and  treasure.  The 
subjugation  or  conquest  of  a  nation  for  the  acquisition  of  ter- 
ritory as  a  goal  is  as  reprehensible  as  it  is  unjust.  Presumably 
one-half  the  amount  of  money  necessary  to  prosecute  the  war 
to  a  finish  would  have  sufficed  to  purchase  the  territory  above 
named,  and  thus  avoided  the  shedding  of  blood.  I  heard  of  a 
man  once,  "who  preferred  to  lie  on  time,  than  to  tell  the  truth 
for  cash."  Some  rulers  prefer  to  precipitate  a  war  than  adjust 
existing  difficulties  by  peaceable  arbitration  or  by  the  payment 
of  money.  Not  always  so,  for  in  1803  Thomas  Jefferson,  being 
President  of  the  United  States,  purchased  from  France,  for  a 
consideration  of  $15,000,000,  the  vast  territory,  known  as  the 
Northwest  Territory,  including  many  of  the  great  states  of  the 
central  Union.  This  is  known  in  history  as  the  "Louisiana 
Purchase."  Again,  in  1867,  the  United  States  purchased, 
through  William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  for  the  sum 
of  $7,200,000,  from  Russia,  the  rich  territory  known  as  Alaska. 
And  all  this  by  peaceable  measures,  without  the  shedding  of  a 


64  Abraham  Lincoln 

drop  of  blood.  Truly,  "Peace  hath  its  victories  no  less  re- 
nowned than  war." 

In  a  republican  form  of  government,  such  as  ours,  where 
authority  or  sovereignty  vests  in  the  people  and  is  exercised 
by  their  chosen  representatives,  "governors  derive  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  Barring  constitu- 
tional prohibitions  or  barriers,  Presidents  and  Congressmen 
would  be  included  under  the  word  "governors."  If  this  be 
true,  it  necessarily  follows  that  there  could  not,  nor  would  be, 
any  declaration  of  war,  except  to  "suppress  insurrections  and 
repel  invasions"  without  the  affirmative,  majority  vote  of  the 
people.  And  if  such  declaration  were  postponed  till  such  a 
vote  of  the  masses,  who  do  the  fighting  was  secured,  our  nation 
would  grow  hoary-headed  many  times  over  before  any  war 
would  be  precipitated.  The  time  has  past,  in  my  judgment, 
when  the  citizens  of  this  great  republic  will  consent  or  permit 
their  sons,  the  pride  and  flower  of  the  nation,  to  become,  at 
the  dictation  of  Washington  officials,  food  for  the  cannon's 
mouth  or  victims  of  the  deadly  gas  pits.  The  Federal  Con- 
stitution should  be  so  revised  that  our  Presidents  and  members 
of  Congress  would  be  our  servants  and  not  our  masters.  Let 
this  suffice. 

Resuming  the  Lincoln  narrative,  it  is  quite  reasonable  to 
presume  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  retirement  from  Congress,  or  his 
work  while  in  Congress,  rather,  was  a  source  of  satisfaction 
and  not  of  regret.  He  certainly  could  rejoice  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  work  well  begun,  if  not  well  done.  He  possessed  con- 
victions, and  had  what  no  previous  Congressman  ever  had,  if 
my  memory  serves  me  right,  the  courage  of  his  convictions 
to  introduce  a  bill  looking  towards  the  limitation  or  non- 
extension  of  slavery,  if  not  to  its  entire  abolition.  His  intro- 
duction of  a  bill  to  suppress  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
was  deemed  by  him,  doubtless,  as  an  entering  wedge  or  initial 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  65 

effort  which  ultimately  would  overthrow  the  entire  diabolical 
system.  The  opposition  he  encountered  by  a  united  Congress 
did  not  dampen  his  zeal  or  cool  his  ardor,  but  stimulated  him 
to  additional  activities,  as  future  years  disclosed. 

It  has  always  been  a  surprise  to  this  writer  that  such  dis- 
tinguished men  as  Hon.  Joshua  R.  Giddings  of  Ohio,  George 
W.  Julian  of  Indiana,  and  other  noted  anti-slavery  men,  then 
in  Congress,  should  so  ignore  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  doing  what  they 
approved  but  did  not  have  the  courage  to  undertake  themselves. 

This  was  not  Mr.  Lincoln's  first  effort  to  limit  or  curb  the 
aggressions  of  the  slave-holding  power  by  appropriate  legisla- 
tion or  by  the  enactment  of  resolutions  strongly  condemning 
the  system.  Some  ten  years  prior  to  this  event,  when  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  pro-slavery 
resolutions  of  the  most  violent  character  were  introduced  and 
carried  by  majorities  that  were  almost  unanimous.  These  were 
opposed  by  Mr.  Lincoln  with  all  the  ability  and  influence  he 
could  command. 

Lincoln  well  knew  that  any  opposition  or  protestation  on 
his  part  to  these  and  similar  resolutions  would  jeopardize  his 
popularity  in  the  Legislature  and  among  his  constituents  at 
home,  but  with  undaunted  courage  he  proceeded  to  introduce 
counter  resolutions,  declaring  the  whole  system  of  slavery  to 
be  barbarous,  and  "founded  on  injustice  and  bad  policy."  Of 
all  the  members  of  the  House,  comprising  over  one  hundred, 
only  one,  Dan  Stone,  had  the  courage  to  join  him  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  resolution. 

I  merely  cite  these  instances  to  show  the  almost  insurmount- 
able difficulties  that  confronted  Lincoln  at  every  turn  in  his 
effort  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  bond  man. 

Slavery  had  become  so  entrenched  and  safeguarded  by  the 
approval  of  society,  by  the  customs  of  the  people  and  by  the 
laws  of  the  land,  that  to  oppose  it  meant  ostracism,  alienation 


66  Abraham  Lincoln 

and  sometimes  death.  The  enactment  by  Congress  in  1821  of 
a  measure  known  as  the  Missouri  Compromise,  by  means  of 
which  Missouri  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  slave  state, 
gave  character  and  standing  to  the  system  of  slavery,  both 
South  and  North,  to  an  extent  previously  unknown.  By  this 
act  Congress,  the  legislative  body  of  the  nation  and  exponent 
of  public  sentiment,  gave  the  stamp  of  its  unqualified  approval 
on  both  the  existence  and  perpetuity  of  slavery.  However, 
the  measure  gave  a  little  anti-slavery  sop  to  the  people  of  the 
North  by  providing  in  the  same  enactment  that  slavery  should 
not  extend  to  territory  north  of  thirty-six  degrees,  thirty  min- 
utes north  latitude  (north  of  the  Ohio  River,  say)  and  territory 
west  of  Missouri.  This  created  great  exultation  among  the 
people  of  the  South,  for  it  bound  the  shackles  of  slavery  on 
the  limbs  of  the  black  man  stronger  than  ever,  and  made,  as 
they  supposed,  the  diabolical  system  perpetual. 

The  intelligent  reader  of  today  would  naturally  conclude 
that  the  system  of  human  slavery,  such  as  existed  in  the  South, 
(characterized  by  John  Wesley  "as  the  sun  of  all  villainies") 
and  extending  its  pernicious  influence  into  all  homes  and 
through  all  society  in  the  North,  as  well  as  South,  would  receive 
its  just  condemnation  by  all  good  people  everywhere.  But  such 
was  not  the  case.  Following  the  adoption  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  the  people  of  the  North,  by  their  votes,  not  only 
tolerated  slavery  in  the  South,  but  actually  approved  it  by 
their  representatives  in  Congress  who  voted  for  its  further 
extension. 

How  true  and  how  sad  is  the  poetic  declaration  of  Pope, 
in  saying: 

"Vice  (slavery)  is  a  monster  of  so  frightful  mien, 
As  to  be  hated  needs  but  to  be  seen; 
But  seen  too  oft,  familiar  with  her  face, 
We  first  endure,  then  pity,  then  embrace." 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  67 

The  almost  universal  domination  of  slavery  sentiment  in 
Northern  states  as  well  as  South  during  the  first  half  of  the 
past  century  will  remain  the  surprise  of  the  ages.  It  pervaded 
all  classes  and  conditions  of  society.  Not  even  the  clergy, 
who  were  supposed  to  be  exemplars  and  exponents  of  every- 
thing pure  and  noble  and  of  good  report,  were  exempt  from 
its  influence.  This  was  illustrated,  and  surprisingly  so,  by  the 
vote  of  the  resident  clergymen  of  Springfield,  111.,  in  the  fall 
of  1858  when  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas  were 
standing  for  the  United  States  senatorship  in  that  state. 

On  the  day  prior  to  the  election  a  straw  vote  was  taken  of 
the  people  in  the  city  of  Springfield,  to  ascertain,  if  possible, 
the  sentiment  of  the  community  as  to  the  merit  of  the  two  can- 
didates. There  were  twenty-three  clergymen  in  the  city  who 
thus  cast  their  vote,  as  I  understand.  And  what  was  the  result? 
Hear,  oh  hear;  for  some  of  you  will  weep:  Twenty  of  the 
number,  as  I  understand,  voted  for  Judge  Douglas,  and  three, 
just  three,  voted  for  Abraham  Lincoln.  That  is  to  say,  twenty 
voted  for  the  extension  of  slavery,  for  Judge  Douglas  stood 
for  that,  and  three  voted  for  its  limitation  and  non-extension, 
for  that  was  what  the  noble  Lincoln  stood  for.  Let  us  be 
charitable  and  presume  (as  it  is  to  be  hoped)  that  some  of 
the  Douglas  clergymen  were  anti-slavery  men,  but  were  cowed 
into  silence  by  the  domination  of  their  pro-slavery  parishion- 
ers. Such  was  the  case  in  most  of  our  churches.  Old  Parson 
Brownlow  of  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  was  made  of  different  stuff. 
Read  up  his  history.    It  will  do  you  good. 

In  1850  Congress  enacted  a  very  reprehensible  measure, 
known  as  the  fugitive  slave  law,  entailing  as  it  did,  untold 
cruelties  on  the  enslaved  race,  as  indicated  below. 

In  1854  Congress  enacted  another  measure,  through  the 
influence  of  Senator  Douglas,  adding  insult  to  injury,  and  as 
merciless  and  inhuman  as  the  former,  known  as  the  Kansas  and 


68  Abraham  Lincoln 

Nebraska  bill.  This  bill  repealed  the  existing  and  long  estab- 
lished law,  known  as  the  Missouri  Compromise.  This  law  was 
enacted  back  in  1820-21,  when  Missouri  was  admitted  into  the 
Union.  After  much  opposition  and  prolonged  controversy, 
from  the  people  of  the  North,  the  state  was  admitted  as  a  slave 
state,  through  the  influence  of  Henry  Clay,  but  only  through 
a  compromise.  Hence  the  name,  "Missouri  Compromise." 
This  compromise  provided  that  thereafter  slavery  should  be 
excluded  from  all  territory  north  of  36°  30',  north  latitude, 
and  west  of  Missouri.  The  repeal  of  this  "compromise"  in 
'54  worked  havoc  to  the  black  man  and  strengthened  and 
enlarged  the  area  of  the  slave  traffic.  It  opened  the  floodgates 
of  slavery  and  made  its  existence  possible  in  newly  acquired 
territory  and  in  Northern  states  as  well,  if  their  constitutions 
would  ever  permit.  I  have  spoken  of  this  previously,  but  it 
will  bear  repetition.  These  measures  wrought  a  marvelous 
and  radical  change  in  the  minds  of  Northern  people  on  the 
question  of  human  slavery. 

Under  the  operation  of  the  fugitive-slave  law,  the  inhuman 
and  relentless  cruelties  inflicted  on  the  poor  black  man,  when 
arrested,  in  his  possible  flight  for  freedom,  were  almost  beyond 
human  conception.  Also,  on  any  man  in  a  free  state  who 
would  give  aid  or  protection  to  the  fleeing  bond  man,  a  heavy 
fine  and  imprisonment  would  be  imposed.  Moreover,  the  fleet- 
footed,  savage,  bellowing  hounds  from  the  Southern  planta- 
tions would  be  brought  into  requisition  to  more  effectually 
secure  the  return  to  bondage  of  the  escaping  refugee.  Fortunate 
indeed  would  be  the  poor  fellow  if  he  escaped  the  gnashing 
wounds   so   often   inflicted   by  the  bloody   hounds. 

All  these  measures  tended  to  arouse  public  indignation 
and  protest  at  the  increasing  barbarities  and  aggressions  of 
slavery.  They  also  served  to  unite  the  people  of  the  North  in  a 
deathless  effort  and  struggle  to  prevent  its  further  extension. 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  69 

Probably  no  act  of  Congress  had  ever  created  such  excitement, 
such  opposition,  such  protest,  such  indignation  and  lashed 
the  public  mind  of  the  West  and  Northwest  into  such  a  state 
of  fury  and  commotion  as  the  enactment  of  the  said  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  bill. 

There  was  a  clause  in  the  bill  repealing  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, as  aforesaid,  under  the  operation  of  which,  the  slave- 
holders could,  as  they  proceeded  to  do,  take  their  slaves  into 
these  territories.  They  were  aided  by  the  administration  of 
President  Franklin  Pierce,  and  were  striving  to  convert  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  into  slave  states. 

The  purpose  of  these  invaders  was  to  creat  pro-slavery 
sentiment  in  the  above  named  territories  and  colonize  there 
sufficient  voters  to  carry  the  states  for  slavery  when  they  should 
seek  admission  into  the  Union.  In  the  spring  of  1856  actual 
war  was  precipitated  in  the  city  of  Lawrence,  Kansas,  when 
the  Missouri  ruffians,  as  they  were  called,  invaded  and  pillaged 
the  homes  of  the  free-state  men,  killed  their  occupants,  burned 
their  houses,  destroyed  their  printing  presses,  stole  their  horses 
and  cattle  and  carried  off  their  goods.  This  was  what  incipient 
slavery  was  doing  for  "Bleeding  Kansas."  I  was  then  a  citizen 
of  the  state  of  Illinois,  and  recall  as  though  it  were  but  yester- 
day, the  intense  excitement  created  by  the  war  news  of  the 
West. 

A  company  of  military  men  was  quickly  mobilized  and 
started  for  the  seat  of  war,  but  trouble  had  subsided  when 
they  arrived. 

I  write  thus  at  length,  in  order  that  my  young  readers, 
especially  high  school  and  college  students,  for  whom,  largely, 
this  biography  is  written,  may  learn  of  the  stirring  events  that 
characterized  the  history  of  our  great  country  about  the  middle 
of  the  last  century  and  some  years  previous  thereto.  Writers 
of  history  seldom  make  extended  reference  to  many  momentous 


70  Abraham  Lincoln 

events  that  an  ardent  student  of  history  should  know.  I  write 
largely  from  memory,  and  can  recall  vividly  and  accurately, 
I  think,  nearly  every  important  incident  and  event  that  has 
occurred  in  our  republic  during  the  past  seventy  or  more  years. 
My  readers  shall  have  the  benefit  of  these  reminiscences,  as 
thus  outlined.  The  above  half-dozen  sentences  being  explana- 
tory, I  will  now  proceed  with  the  Lincoln  narrative. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  services  in  the  Thirtieth 
Congress  (1848),  he  returned  to  Springfield  and  resumed  his 
law  practice.  This  he  pursued  with  great  assiduity  for  the  ten 
years  following,  when  he  engaged  in  a  series  of  memorable 
debates  with  the  "little  giant,"  Douglas,  reference  to  which 
is  made  later.  In  the  meantime,  his  services  as  a  political 
orator  were  in  great  demand,  especially  during  the  three  inter- 
vening presidential  campaigns. 

In  1848  he  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  Gen.  Zachary  Taylor 
for  President.  In  July  of  this  year  he  made  a  vigorous  speech 
on  the  floor  of  Congress  for  old  "Rough  and  Ready,"  as  Lin- 
coln called  Taylor,  and  during  the  summer  campaign  he  made 
numerous  and  effective  speeches  in  New  England  and  elsewhere 
which  contributed  much  towards  the  nomination  and  election 
of  General  Taylor.  The  same  interest  and  ardor  was  mani- 
fested by  him  in  the  campaign  of  '52  for  the  Whig  Presidential 
candidate. 

In  1856  the  Republican  party  was  formed,  and  in  the  same 
year  General  John  C.  Fremont  became  its  first  candidate  for 
President.  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  had  joined  the  new  party,  as  had 
nearly  all  the  Whigs,  and  many  conservative  Democrats,  be- 
came a  tower  of  strength  in  the  newly  organized  party,  and 
poured  out  his  very  soul  in  his  devotion  and  support  of  the 
candidate  of  his  choice. 

General  Fremont,  as  all  know,  was  not  successful.  However, 
such  states  as  gave  him  their  electoral  votes  were  won  largely 
by  Mr.  Lincoln's  great  campaign  ability. 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  71 

While  the  Republican  party  at  large  had  been  previously 
organized,  the  party  had  not  been  organized  in  the  State  of 
Illinois  till  May  29,  1856,  when  the  first  Republican  conven- 
tion of  the  state  assembled  at  Bloomington.  "It  was  composed 
of  Abolitionists,  Free-soil  Whigs  and  Anti-Nebraska  Demo- 
crats." Abraham  Lincoln  was  present  as  a  delegate  from  Illi- 
nois; and  after  the  preliminary  work  of  the  convention  was 
over  and  a  few  short  speeches  were  made  by  others,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  called  to  the  platform  and  delivered  a  most  eloquent 
address.  Some  claim  it  was  the  supreme,  outstanding  address 
of  his  life.  It  was  called  "Lincoln's  Lost  Speech"  because  the 
reporters  were  so  electrified  and  carried  away  by  the  eloquence 
of  the  orator  that  no  notes  were  taken  and  no  reports  made 
to  their  papers. 

Mr.  Joseph  Medill,  then  a  reporter,  afterwards  the  editor 
of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  was  present  as  a  delegate.  Many 
years  afterwards  he  wrote  out  his  impressions  of  the  speech 
for  publication  in  McClure's  Magazine.  It  was  in  part  as  fol- 
lows: "No  one  was  expecting  a  great  speech  at  the  time.  We 
all  knew  that  he  could  say  something  worthy  of  the  occasion, 
but  no  one  anticipated  such  an  outburst  of  Demosthenian  ora- 
tory. There  was  great  political  excitement  in  Illinois  at  the 
time  and  all  over  the  Northwest,  growing  out  of  the  efforts  of 
the  South  to  introduce  slavery  into  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  The 
free-soil  men  were  highly  wrought  up  in  opposition  and  Mr. 
Lincoln  partook  of  their  feelings."  Mr.  Medill  proceeds  to 
describe  the  man  and  the  scene.  He  says:  "He  came  forward 
(meaning  Lincoln)  and  took  the  platform  beside  the  presiding 
officer.  At  first  his  voice  was  shrill  and  hesitating.  There  was 
a  curious  introspective  look  in  his  eyes,  which  lasted  for  a 
few  moments.  Then  his  voice  began  to  move  steadily  and 
smoothly  forward,  and  the  modulations  were  under  perfect 
control  from  thenceforward  to  the  finish.     He  warmed  up  as 


72  Abraham  Lincoln 

he  went  on,  and  spoke  more  rapidly;  he  looked  a  foot  taller 
as  he  straightened  himself  to  his  full  height,  and  his  eyes 
flashed  fire;  his  countenance  became  wrapped  in  intense  emo- 
tion; he  rushed  along  like  a  thunderstorm.  He  prophesied 
war  as  the  outcome  of  these  aggressions,  and  poured  forth 
hot  denunciations  upon  the  slave  power." 

"The  convention,"  Mr.  Medill  continues,  "was  kept  in  an 
uproar,  applauding  and  cheering  and  stamping;  and  this 
reacted  on  the  speaker,  and  gave  him  a  tongue  of  fire.  The 
thrilling  scene  in  that  old  Bloomington  hall  forty  years  ago 
arises  in  my  mind  as  vividly  as  the  day  after  its  enactment. 
There  stood  Lincoln  in  the  front,  erect,  tall  and  majestic  in 
appearance,  hurling  thunderbolts  at  the  foes  of  freedom,  while 
the  great  convention  roared  its  indorsement.  I  never  witnessed 
such  a  scene  before  or  since.  As  he  described  the  aims  and 
aggressions  of  the  unspeakable  slave-holders  and  the  servility 
of  their  Northern  allies  as  illustrated  by  the  perfidious  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  two  years  previously,  and  their 
grasping  after  the  rich  prairies  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  to 
blight  them  with  slavery  and  to  deprive  free  labor  of  this  rich 
inheritance,  and  exhorted  the  friend  of  freedom  to  resist  them 
to  the  death,  the  convention  went  fairly  wild.  It  paralleled 
or  exceeded  the  scene  in  the  Revolutionary,  Virginia  conven- 
tion of  eighty-one  years  before,  when  Patrick  Henry  invoked 
death  if  liberty  could  not  be  preserved." 

He  continues  further  by  saying:  "I  did  make  a  few  para- 
graphs of  report  (for  the  Chicago  Tribune)  of  what  Lincoln 
said  in  the  first  eight  or  ten  minutes;  but  I  became  so  absorbed 
in  his  magnetic  oratory  that  I  forgot  myself  and  ceased  to 
take  notes,  and  joined  with  the  convention  in  cheering  and 
stamping  and  clapping  to  the  end  of  his  speech." 

Thus  Mr.  Medill  continued  in  an  eloquent  description  of 
the  most  eloquent  address,  but  I  will  not  further  prolong  or 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  73 

extend  these  quotations,  inspiring  and  beautiful  though  they  be. 

I  think  it  may  be  truthfully  said  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  address 
on  this  occasion — in  point  of  brilliancy,  of  thought,  in  force- 
ful, logical  presentation  of  the  facts  involved,  finds  no  parallel, 
or  scarcely  a  parallel,  in  all  the  domain  of  forensic  oratory. 
Daniel  Webster's  reply  to  Senator  Haynes  of  South  Carolina, 
on  the  subject  of  "State  Rights,"  may  be  a  single  exception. 

This  great  address  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  lost  to  the  world  for 
many  years,  but  it  was  finally  ascertained  that  a  young  lawyer 
by  the  name  of  H.  C.  Whitney,  a  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  was 
present  at  the  convention  and  took  extended  notes  of  the 
address  which  he  later  reproduced. 

The  world — especially  the  literary  world — has  been  placed 
under  lasting  obligation  to  Mr.  Whitney  for  the  reproduction 
of  that  matchless,  inspiring  address  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  for  with- 
out his  thoughtfulness  and  ability  as  well,  to  take  prolonged 
and  accurate  notes  of  the  charming  and  eloquent  speech,  it 
would  have  been  lost  forever  to  an  admiring  world.  Others 
lost  their  heads  and  were  swept  from  their  feet  in  the  oratorical 
tornado  above  described,  but  young  Whitney  retained  and 
maintained  his  equilibrium,  and  all  mankind  are  now  his 
debtors.  Mr.  Medill  and  others  to  whom  the  report  has  been 
submitted  bear  willing  and  cheerful  testimony  to  the  fact  that 
it  is  a  most  accurate  and  satisfactory  reproduction  of  the  great 
speech  they  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  requested  to  write  out  his  speech  for  cam- 
paign purposes,  but  he  declared  that  "it  would  be  impossible 
for  him  to  recall  the  language  he  used  on  that  occasion,  as  he 
had  spoken  under  some  excitement."  He  used  a  very  mild 
term  (excitement)  for  if  ever  man  spoke  "with  the  tongue 
of  men  and  angels,"  Mr.  Lincoln  did  that  day.  He  labored 
under  almost  superhuman  pressure  and  great  mental  grief. 
He  alluded  in  his  speech  to  the  recent  murder  of  a  score  or 


74  Abraham  Lincoln 

more  of  free-soil  men  at  Lawrence,  Kansas,  by  the  Missouri 
border  ruffians;  he  also  spoke  of  the  brutal  attack  of  Charles 
Sumner  in  the  United  States  Senate,  wherein  he  was  beaten 
into  insensibility  by  a  bludgeon  in  the  hands  of  Preston  Brooks 
of  South  Carolina.  He  further  stated  that  while  he,  Lincoln, 
was  speaking,  Senator  Sumner  was  dying  in  Washington. 
These  statements  created  a  wonderful  sensation  and  almost 
paralyzed  the  audience.  It  should  be  said  that  after  four  years 
of  intense  pain  and  suffering  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Sumner,  he 
regained  his  health  and  was  returned  to  the  United  States 
Senate  at  Washington. 

In  his  address  Mr.  Lincoln  may  have  had  in  mind  the  sad 
fate  of  Mr.  E.  P.  Lovejoy  of  Alton,  111.,  brother  of  Owen  Love- 
joy,  the  statesman,  whose  printing  press  was  four  times  des- 
troyed and  he  himself  finally  killed  by  slave-holder  residents. 
Or  he  may  have  thought,  while  delivering  his  speech,  of  Will- 
iam Lloyd  Garrison,  whose  body  was  drawn  through  Boston 
by  a  slavery  mob. 

Little  wonder  that  Mr.  Lincoln,  having  in  mind  these  acts 
of  barbarism,  ever  remaining  as  foul  blots  on  the  pages  of 
American  history,  was  unable  to  recall  the  words  he  used, 
strong  and  pungent  as  they  were,  on  that  noted  occasion.  But 
the  impression  they  made  and  are  making  on  the  minds  of  men 
will  remain  imperishable  as  long  as  time  and  memory  endure. 

The  year  1858  will  always  be  noted  in  American  history 
as  the  year  in  which  a  series  of  debates  was  inaugurated  in 
the  State  of  Illinois  between  two  eminent  statesmen,  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  I  think  it  may  be  safely 
stated  that  in  point  of  the  distinguished  ability  of  the  partici- 
pants and  the  momentous  national  questions  involved,  the  like 
of  these  debates  was  never  before  nor  since  witnessed  in  this 
great  republic. 

On  June  16,  of  this  year  at  Springfield,  Abraham  Lincoln 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  75 

received  the  unanimous  nomination  of  the  Republican  party 
for  the  United  States  Senate  as  the  successor  of  Judge  Douglas. 
Mr.  Douglas  was  a  distinguished  orator  of  national  and  inter- 
national repute,  and  was  busy  this  year  in  canvassing  the  state 
in  support  of  his  recently  enacted  Congressional  measures, 
known,  as  before  stated,  as  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill,  in- 
volving the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  Horace 
Greeley,  in  his  great  work,  states  that  Mr.  Lincoln  at  the  said 
Republican  convention,  "opened  the  canvass  at  once  in  a  terse, 
forcible  and  thoroughly  radical  speech,  wherein  he  enunciated 
the  startling,  if  not  the  absolutely  novel  doctrine,  that  THE 
UNION  CANNOT  PERMANENTLY  ENDURE  HALF  SLAVE 
AND  HALF  FREE.  A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand."  It  seems  that  Governor  Seward  of  New  York,  several 
months  after  this,  gave  expression  of  like  premonition  of  com- 
ing events,  by  saying,  according  to  Mr.  Greeley:  "Shall  I  tell 
you  what  this  collision  means?  They  who  think  it  is  acci- 
dental, unnecessary,  the  work  of  interested  or  fanatical  agita- 
tors, and  therefore  ephemeral,  mistake  the  case  altogether." 

The  Governor  continued:  "It  is  an  irrepressible  conflict 
between  opposing  and  enduring  forces;  and  it  means  that  the 
United  States  must  and  will,  sooner  or  later,  become  either 
entirely  a  slave-holding  nation,  or  entirely  a  free-labor  nation." 

This  unanimity  of  sentiment  regarding  the  resultant  ten- 
dency of  slavery  by  two  persons  so  far  apart  and  at  different 
times,  seems  quite  remarkable  as  well  as  prophetic. 

In  a  few  weeks  following  his  nomination  to  the  Senate, 
Mr.  Lincoln  attended  large  Democratic  gatherings  at  Chicago 
and  elsewhere,  unbeknown  to  Mr.  Douglas,  and  listened  with 
painful  ears  to  the  pernicious,  pro-slavery  proclamations  of 
the  "young  giant."  Lincoln  saw  at  once  that  such  misleading 
statements  should  not  go  unheeded  or  unchallenged,  and  sent 
a  message  to  Mr.  Douglas  challenging  him  to  a  joint  discus- 


76  Abraham  Lincoln 

sion.  Mr.  Lincoln  thought  that  by  this  method  he  would  mini- 
mize if  not  utterly  destroy  the  great  influence  that  Mr.  Douglas 
might  otherwise  have  on  the  people.  In  this  he  was  success- 
ful, if  a  majority  of  the  popular  vote  at  the  fall  election  was 
a  correct  index  of  the  sentiment  of  the  people. 

Judge  Douglas  received  and  accepted  the  challenge  readily, 
and  sent  an  affirmative  reply  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  doubtless 
thought  he  could  soon  annihilate  his  antagonist  and  bring 
home  his  scalp,  dangling  at  his  side,  as  a  trophy  of  his  achieve- 
ment. In  this,  "he  reckoned  without  his  host."  "Man  pro- 
poses," but  "a  kind  Providence  disposes." 

Hitherto  Douglas  had  held  Lincoln  in  light  esteem,  as  un- 
able and  unworthy  to  measure  intellectual  swords  with  his 
honor.    He  soon  changed  his  mind.    He  had  seen  "a  new  light." 

In  speaking  of  the  debate,  Douglas  remarked  that  while 
Lincoln  was  comparatively  unknown,  "if  he  gets  the  best  of  this 
debate,  and  I  want  to  say  he  is  the  ablest  man  the  Republicans 
have  got,  I  shall  lose  everything  and  Lincoln  will  gain  every- 
thing." He  further  stated:  "I  have  known  Lincoln  long  and 
well,  and  I  know  I  shall  have  anything  but  an  easy  task."  He 
added:  "He  is  the  strong  man  of  his  party,  full  of  wit,  facts, 
dates,  and  the  best  stump -speaker,  with  his  droll  ways  and  dry 
jokes,  in  the  West.  He  is  as  honest  as  he  is  shrewd,  and  if  I 
beat  him,  my  victory  will  be  hardly  won."  I  quote  from 
Alonzo  Rothchild  in  his  "Lincoln,  Master  of  Men,"  Page  94. 
Houghton,  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston. 

Mr.  Lincoln  recognized  the  difference  between  himself  and 
his  opponent,  and  reciprocated  the  good  opinion  thus  ex- 
pressed, by  saying  that  "Senator  Douglas  is  of  world-wide 
renown.  All  the  anxious  politicians  of  the  party,  or  who  have 
been  of  his  party  for  years  past,  have  been  looking  upon  him 
as  certainly,  at  no  distant  day,  to  be  the  President  of  the 
United  States.     They  have  seen  in  his  round,  jolly,  fruitful 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  77 

face,  postoffices,  land  offices,  marshalships,  and  cabinet  appoint- 
ments, chargeships  and  foreign  missions,  bursting  and  sprout- 
ing out  in  wonderful  exuberance  ready  to  be  laid  hold  of  by 
their  greedy  hands.  On  the  contrary,  nobody  has  ever  expected 
me  to  be  President.  In  my  poor,  lean,  lank  face,  nobody  has 
ever  seen  that  any  cabbages  were  sprouting  out.  These  are 
disadvantages,  all  taken  together,  that  the  Republicans  labor 
under.  We  have  to  fight  this  battle  upon  principle  and  prin- 
ciple alone."  I  quote  from  Miss  Ida  M.  Tarbell's  great  work 
on  Lincoln,  Vol.  1,  page  309.  (The  Macmillan  Company, 
New   York,   Publishers.) 

By  mutual  consent  of  the  contestants,  seven  cities  were 
selected  in  the  state,  in  which  the  joint  debates  were  to  be  held. 
The  first  one  to  be  at  Ottawa,  about  eighty  miles  southwest 
of  Chicago,  on  August  21.  The  location  of  the  cities  where 
the  other  six  were  to  be  held  was  so  placed  in  different  parts 
of  the  state,  north  and  south,  that  a  majority  of  the  people 
could  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  see  and  hear  these 
forensic  giants.  This  writer  was  present  at  this,  the  first  of 
the  seven  memorable  debates.  An  older  brother  and  I  walked 
some  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  to  be  present  on  the  noted 
occasion. 

Excitement  was  at  fever  heat.  Everyone  was  discussing 
the  possibility  of  slavery  being  saddled  on  poor  Kansas  and 
Nebraska,  with  the  added  possibility  of  its  extension  into 
Northern  States,  Illinois  included.  This  latter  possibility  was 
only  contingent  on  the  supposition  that  pro-slavery  sentiment 
might  become  strong  enough — in  some  Northern  States — to 
secure  a  favorable  change  in  their  constitutions,  and  thus  invite 
or  encourage  slavery. 

Public  sentiment  seemed  to  be  about  evenly  divided.  Those 
who  believed  in  the  divine  right  of  slavery  and  its  unlimited 
extension,  if  the  people  desired  it,  sided  with  Douglas;   and 


78  Abraham  Lincoln 

those  who  opposed  the  inhuman  system  and  its  further  exten- 
sion, sided  with  Mr.  Lincoln. 

At  the  time  appointed  for  the  joint  debate  at  Ottawa,  there 
was  a  vast  number  in  attendance  numbering,  as  was  said, 
20,000.  People  came  from  far  and  near.  There  were  only  a 
few  railroads  then  in  the  state,  and  only  one  passing  through 
the  city.  The  masses  came  in  all  kinds  of  conveyances,  in 
prairie  schooners,  wagons,  buggies,  carts,  etc.,  on  horse-back, 
mule-back,  jack-back,  ox-back,  etc.  Thousands  came  on  foot. 
Some  traveled  one  hundred  miles  or  more,  probably.  They 
surrounded  the  small  city  like  an  invading  army,  many  arriving 
the  previous  day.  They  slept  under  their  wagons,  in  tents,  in 
fence  corners,  on  lawns,  in  public  parks.  The  few  hotels  could 
not  accommodate  one-tenth  of  the  city's  guests.  At  an  early 
hour  the  public  park  in  which  the  services  were  held  was  filled 
to  its  utmost  capacity.  At  2  p.  m.  the  renowned  orators  took 
their  places  on  the  stand,  ready  for  the  fray. 

It  was  my  good  fortune,  as  formerly  stated,  to  be  present 
on  the  occasion,  and  listen  to  these  eminent  statesmen.  It  will 
remain  a  source  of  pleasant  recollection  as  long  as  life  and 
memory  endure.  Being  a  lad,  I  angled  my  way  through  the 
dense  crowd,  till  I  stood  right  in  front  of  the  platform. 

By  previous  arrangement,  Judge  Douglas  was  to  open  the 
debate  with  an  hour's  speech,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  to  follow  with 
an  hour  and  one-half  reply,  when  Douglas  was  to  close  with 
a  half-hour  rebuttal.  Senator  Douglas  was  the  pride  of  the 
Democratic  party  as  well  as  the  ablest  and  most  influential 
member  of  the  United  States  Senate.  It  was  my  good  fortune 
to  have  heard  this  eminent  statesman  on  a  previous  occasion, 
as  I  was  then  a  resident  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  The  names 
of  these  noted  men  were  household  words  in  nearly  every  home 
in  that  great  commonwealth. 

We  lived  a  few  counties  north  of  Springfield  (their  homes) 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  79 

during  the  period  of  their  great  political  activity,  and  were 
familiar  with  their  history. 

While  differing  in  mental  and  physical  characteristics  they 
were  men  who  would  stamp  the  impress  of  their  worth  and 
nobility  of  character  on  any  person  or  company  with  whom 
they  would  come  in  contact.  The  judge  was  eloquent  in  speech 
almost  beyond  compare,  handsome  and  of  fine  personality 
and  address,  while  Mr.  Lincoln  was  tall,  homely  and  unpre- 
possessing. He  was  less  eloquent  than  his  opponent,  in  the 
common  acceptation  of  the  term,  but  in  public  address  was 
strong,  forceful,  pungent.  His  masterly  presentation  of  a 
subject,  or  defense  thereof,  was  incomparable  to  that  of  any 
man  I  ever  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing. 

Judge  Douglas  had  secured  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, in  Congress,  and  also  the  enactment  of  the  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  bill,  as  before  mentioned.  By  these  provisions, 
the  flood-gates  of  slavery  were  opened,  and  permission  thereby 
given  whereby  the  extension  of  slavery  into  newly  acquired 
territory  was  made  possible.  The  same  privilege  of  extending 
slavery  into  new  states  carved  from  said  territories  was  granted, 
provided  such  states  should  so  determine  by  their  votes  in  fram- 
ing their  constitutions.  All  this  was  forbidden  under  the  old 
Federal  law,  known  as  the  Missouri  Compromise. 

Judge  Douglas  spent  the  most  of  the  first  hour  explaining 
and  justifying  his  position  in  Congress,  touching  the  above- 
named  legislation;  for  by  his  imperious  attitude  he  had 
alienated  many  of  his  hitherto  devoted  friends  of  the  North. 
In  addition  to  this  he  had  incurred  the  deadly  enmity  of  the 
old  Whig  party,  of  which  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  the  chief 
exponent  and  defender.  He  strangely  maintained  that  slave- 
holders could  take  their  slaves  into  these  territories  (Kansas 
and  Nebraska)  and  hold  them  as  such,  the  same  as  other  chat- 
tels are  held  and  owned.     The  same  would  be  true  regarding 


80  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  introduction  of  slavery  in  any  Northern  State,  provided 
their  amended  constitutions  would  so  permit. 

Douglas  contended  that  owners  of  slaves  in  Northern  ter- 
ritory should  be  protected  in  their  rights  of  ownership  till  such 
territories  should  seek  admission  into  the  Union  as  states.  In 
the  latter  event,  in  framing  their  constitutions,  they  could 
"vote  slavery  up  or  down"  as  they  chose,  and  he,  Douglas, 
did  not  care  which  they  did.  This  he  called  "popular  sov- 
ereignty," dubbed  by  many  as  "squatter  sovereignty."  This 
contemplated  extension  of  slavery  did  not  appeal  to  the  people, 
not  even  to  the  conservative  wing  of  his  own  party.  Judge 
Douglas  must  have  known  and  felt  it  there  and  then.  It  was 
received  with  scant  approval  and  no  applause. 

The  learned  judge  wisely  drew  his  remarks  to  a  close. 
Before  doing  so,  however,  he  turned  to  pay  Mr.  Lincoln  a 
compliment,  a  left-handed  compliment,  which  he  soon  had 
occasion  to  regret.  He  stated  that  he  had  long  known  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  known  him  to  honor  him.  That  while  he  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  were  aspiring  for  positions  in  old  Sangamon 
County,  Illinois,  that  he,  Douglas,  was  an  honorable  school 
teacher,  and  his  friend  Lincoln  was  an  honorable  grog-shop 
keeper;  that  he  could  spoil  more  whiskey  than  any  man  in 
town,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  would  preside  at  horse  and 
foot  races  was  enough  to  excite  the  admiration  and  win  the 
praise  of  all  who  were  present  and  participated.  Of  course, 
the  Democratic  hats  and  shouts  went  up. 

All  eyes  were  now  turned  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  arose  to 
speak.  His  friends  were  a  little  apprehensive,  lest  he  should 
fail  to  recover  from  this  sally  of  wit.  Their  fears  were  soon 
allayed,  however.  He  began  by  saying  that  few  men  liked  to 
hear  themselves  misrepresented;  but  when  misrepresentation 
became  so  gross  and  perverse  as  it  had  on  this  occasion,  it  was 
apt  to  amuse  more  than  anything  else.     He  did  not  know,  he 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  81 

stated,  that  he  ever  kept  a  grog-shop  as  alleged  by  the  Judge, 
but  he  did  recall  that  while  he  kept  a  store,  on  one  counter 
of  which  whiskey  was  sold,  that  while  he  was  officiating  on  one 
side  of  the  counter,  Judge  Douglas  was  on  the  other  and  the 
best  customer  he  had.  He  further  had  this  to  say  that  while 
he  (Lincoln)  had  long,  long  since  left  his  side  of  the  counter, 
he  was  sorry  to  say  that  up  to  this  very  hour,  Judge  Douglas 
had  not  left  his  side.  This  rejoinder  evoked  prolonged 
applause. 

Mr.  Lincoln  now  had  his  audience  and  held  it  closely  to 
the  end.  Without  many  preliminaries,  he  went  quickly  to  the 
heart  of  his  subject.  Judge  Douglas  was  soon  put  on  the 
defensive  and  confronted  with  his  own  record.  Mr.  Lincoln 
propounded  many  questions  as  to  his  vote  in  Congress  and 
requested  an  answer,  yea  or  nay,  and  he  could  take  either  horn 
of  the  dilemma  he  chose.  No  matter  which  way  the  Judge 
answered,  it  got  him  in  a  compromising  position.  He  fairly 
squirmed  under  the  interrogatory  pelting  that  Lincoln  gave 
him.  The  great  Commoner  bitterly  assailed  the  position  of 
Douglas  on  the  extension  of  slavery  into  new  territories,  assert- 
ing that  as  Congress  had  supreme  control  over  these  territories, 
it  possessed  the  undoubted  right  to  prevent  the  introduction  of 
slavery  therein.  This  logic  is  self  evident  and  should  be  re- 
ceived without  controversy. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  inclined  to  interfere  with  the  institution 
of  slavery  in  states  where  it  already  existed,  but  Congress 
should  prevent,  with  all  the  power  of  its  command,  its  further 
extension.  In  this  position,  he  was  fully  indorsed  by  the  great 
Republican  party  and  many  Northern  Democrats  as  well. 

Mr.  Lincoln  then  gave  expression  to  that  Scriptural  declara- 
tion which,  like  the  first  Revolutionary  shot  at  Bunker  Hill, 
was  heard  around  the  world,  "A  house  divided  against  itself 
cannot  stand."     He  further  stated:  "I  believe  this  government 


82  Abraham  Lincoln 

cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not 
expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved,  I  do  not  expect  the  house 
to  fall,  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will 
become  all  one  thing  or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents 
of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it  and  place  it 
where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the 
course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  for- 
ward till  it  becomes  lawful  in  all  the  states,  old  as  well  as 
new,  North  as  well  as  South." 

Mr.  Lincoln  then  paid  his  respects  to  the  notorious  Dred 
Scott  decision.  Chief  Justice  Taney,  representing  the  Supreme 
Court,  had  declared,  in  substance,  that  the  colored  man  pos- 
sessed no  rights  that  the  white  man  was  bound  to  respect. 

Dred  Scott  was  a  slave  and  had  lived  in  the  North  with 
his  master  for  several  years,  and  then  was  taken  back  to  Mis- 
souri and  held  in  bondage.  After  his  master's  death,  Scott 
brought  action  in  court  for  his  freedom,  contending  justly  that 
after  enjoying  practical  freedom  in  the  North,  he  could  not 
be  held  longer  in  the  South  as  a  slave.  The  case  was  fought 
successfully  through  the  lower  courts  by  Mr.  Scott's  attorney, 
but  his  new  owner  finally  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court. 
The  said  court  on  final  review  reversed  the  verdict  of  the  lower 
courts,  and  announced  to  the  world  a  decision  which  has  been 
a  hiss  and  byword,  as  well  as  a  disgrace  to  our  American  juris- 
prudence ever  since,  viz:  that  a  colored  man,  though  he  be 
three-fourths  white,  had  no  rights  that  a  court  of  white  persons 
should  respect.  This  decision,  coming  as  it  did  (in  1856) 
two  years  after  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  was 
received  by  the  American  people  with  almost  universal  detesta- 
tion and  abhorrence. 

The  two  measures  above  indicated  fired  the  minds  of  the 
people  as  nothing  before  had  done,  and  were  prominent  factors 
in  precipitating  the  war  which  followed  a  few  years  after. 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  83 

Mr.  Lincoln  showed  up  this  decision  in  all  its  enormity 
and  held  up  its  author  to  the  just  contempt  of  an  outraged  and 
indignant  people.  Mr.  Lincoln's  chastisement  or  castigation 
of  Judge  Taney  was  most  severe,  and  when  he  proceeded  to 
flay  him  up  one  side  and  down  the  other  to  a  finish,  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  learned  judge  would  have  recognized  his  physi- 
ognomy, had  he  been  present  and  viewed  himself  in  a  mirror. 

Thus  did  Mr.  Lincoln  continue  for  an  hour  and  a  half, 
discussing  the  able  and  profound  questions  that  were  then 
agitating  the  minds  of  the  people.  The  enthusiasm  attending 
his  closing  address  was  unbounded,  and  it  was  said  that  5000 
people  rushed  forward  to  shake  his  hand  and  congratulate  him. 
However,  but  few  could  reach  his  stand,  as  several  seized  and 
threw  him  over  the  shoulders  of  a  stalwart,  in  spite  of  his 
cordial  protest  of  "No,  no,  boys,"  and  bore  him  to  the  nearby 
home  of  the  mayor  where  he  was  entertained.  It  was  said  that 
Judge  Douglas  had  but  little  to  say  in  his  half-hour  of  rebut- 
tal. He  floundered  around  somewhat  in  mental  or  political 
amazement,  and  after  dealing  for  a  while  in  "glittering  gen- 
eralities," took  his  seat. 

Thus  ended  the  first  of  a  series  of  debates,  the  greatest, 
probably,  ever  heard  on  American  soil.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the 
evident  victor,  if  the  enthusiasm  and  plaudits  were  indications 
of  the  popular  mind.  It  was  the  consensus  of  public  opinion 
that  in  the  debates  of  these  giants,  during  the  fall  campaign, 
Mr.  Lincoln  retained  his  supremacy,  and  was  regarded  a  de- 
bater without  a  peer  in  his  state. 

In  the  subsequent  addresses  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  during  his 
presidential  campaign,  he  was  placed  in  the  front  rank  of  the 
foremost  orators  of  the  nation,  and  in  the  minds  of  many,  was 
the  greatest  political  orator  that  ever  graced  an  American  plat- 
form. At  the  ensuing  fall  election  for  United  States  Senator, 
1858,  Mr.  Lincoln  received  a  majority  vote  of  nearly  4000 


84  Abraham  Lincoln 

over  his  rival;  yet  owing  to  the  adverse,  meandering  appor- 
tionment or  reapportionment  of  the  Legislative  districts  of  the 
state,  the  Democratic  nominees  had  a  small  majority,  and  thus 
Douglas  was  elected.  Abraham  Lincoln  asserted  in  advance 
of  the  election,  that  if  Judge  Douglas  was  elected  United  States 
Senator  that  fall,  he  never  would  be  President  of  the  United 
States.  Future  events  proved  the  truthfulness  of  the  prophecy; 
for,  as  we  all  know,  the  presidential  aspiration  and  nomination 
of  the  "little  giant"  in  1860  ended  in  defeat,  which  was  the 
occasion,  if  not  the  cause,  of  the  early  precipitation  of  the 
war — and  possibly  of  the  premature  death  of  the  great  Doug- 
las.    He  died  in  June,  '61.    Peace  be  to  his  ashes. 

Mr.  Lincoln  took  his  defeat  for  the  Senatorship  compla- 
cently, as  you  would  naturally  expect  of  a  man  having  the 
exalted  character  that  the  great  statesman  possessed.  He  evi- 
dently thought  that  the  good  he  had  accomplished  in  awaking 
and  educating  public  sentiment  to  the  fact  that  the  poor  black 
man,  held  in  bondage  for  150  or  more  years,  still  had  a  soul, 
and  some  rights,  civil  and  constitutional,  that  the  white  man 
and  the  white  man's  government  should  and  must  respect.  This 
he  thought,  I  imagine,  would  be  sufficient  compensation  for 
all  the  sacrifices  made  and  financial  losses  sustained  during 
the  six  months'  campaign.  As  to  its  effect  on  his  future  politi- 
cal prospects,  he  thought  little  and  cared  less. 

Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  to  a  friend,  saying,  according  to  Miss 
Ida  M.  Tarbell,  "I  am  glad  I  made  the  race.  It  gave  me  a 
hearing  on  the  great  and  double  question  of  the  age  which  I 
could  have  had  in  no  other  way;  and  though  I  now  sink  out 
of  view  and  shall  be  forgotten,  I  believe  I  have  made  some 
marks  which  shall  tell  for  the  cause  of  liberty  long  after  I  am 
gone.  ("The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  Ida  M.  Tarbell,  Vol. 
I,  Page  323.  The  Macmillan  Company,  New  York,  Pub- 
lishers.) 


Campaigns  and  Douglas  Debates  85 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  now  anxious  to  get  back  into  the  law 
practice ;  for  the  expenses  of  the  long  canvass  had  made  heavy 
inroads  in  his  exchequer  and  personal  income.  Lincoln  was 
never  wealthy,  and  at  this  time  was  only  in  moderate  financial 
circumstances.  He  owned  the  home  at  Springfield,  in  which 
he  resided,  and  a  small  amount  of  personal  property.  The 
annual  income  from  his  law  practice  did  not  exceed  $3000; 
so  we  can  readily  see  that  he  could  ill  afford,  from  a  financial 
view,  to  spend  long  periods  in  political  campaigns.  The  great 
Emancipator  felt,  doubtless,  as  did  the  Apostle  Paul,  when  he 
said,  "Woe  be  to  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel."  Aside  from 
any  personal  emolument  or  political  motive,  I  believe  that 
Lincoln  was  always  willing  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  preaching 
the  gospel  of  personal  liberty  and  freedom  to  an  enslaved  race. 

Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  be  silent,  long.  In  the  fall  of  1859 
he  visited  Kansas  and  was  received  with  open  arms  by  its  citi- 
zens. They  hailed  him  everywhere  as  their  political  savior. 
Vast  audiences  attended  his  meetings  wherever  he  spoke.  He 
pleaded  eloquently  the  cause  of  the  black  man,  and  prophesied 
his  complete  liberation  in  that  state  from  the  slave-holders' 
grasp  as  soon  as  the  people  had  an  opportunity  to  vote  there- 
for. His  noted  address  in  1858  with  Douglas  in  opposing 
the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill,  and  his  subsequent  speeches  in 
Kansas  were  more  effective  in  bringing  about  the  desired  result 
than  any  and  all  other  agencies  combined.  Note  the  result: 
As  soon  as  a  constitutional  vote  could  be  taken  the  party  oppos- 
ing slavery  triumphed;  a  constitution  excluding  slavery  was 
adopted,  and  Kansas  was  admitted  as  a  state,  January  29,  1861. 
The  "border  ruffians"  found  it  convenient  to  withdraw,  feeling, 
doubtless,  as  the  sheep-killing  dog  does  when  he  leaves  his 
scene  of  slaughter  with  his  caudal  appendage  hanging  down. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Presidential  Campaign 

Following  the  great,  not  to  say  triumphant,  political  cam- 
paign with  Douglas,  in  '58,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  invited  to 
speak  in  Kansas  in  '59.  Thence  he  went  to  Ohio,  in  the 
same  fall,  where,  at  Columbus  and  at  Cincinnati,  he  addressed 
immense  audiences.  A  few  months  later,  namely  on  February 
27,  1860,  he  delivered  his  famous  address  at  Cooper  Institute, 
New  York  City.  It  was  an  eye-opener  to  the  citizens  of  Gotham. 
To  intelligent  people  he  was  known  as  the  distinguished 
orator  who  had  effectually  taken  the  wind  out  of  the  sails  of 
the  Democrats'  favored  son,  Judge  Douglas,  the  previous  year; 
but  to  the  masses  he  was  known  as  "  'Abe'  Lincoln,  the  rail- 
splitter"  of  Illinois.  They  evidently  concluded  that  no  good 
thing  could  come  out  of  that  Western  Nazareth.  But  before 
he  had  proceeded  very  far  in  his  address  they  perceived  that 
no  ordinary  person  was  before  them. 

Many  distinguished  persons  were  present,  to  hear  for  the 
first  time,  possibly,  the  renowned  speaker.  The  list  included 
the  names  of  William  Cullen  Bryant,  Horace  Greeley,  David 
Dudley  Field  and  other  noted  citizens.  Mr.  Bryant  presided 
and  introduced  the  speaker  with  a  very  complimentary  and 
prophetic  statement.  He  said:  "Gentlemen  of  New  York:  It 
is  great  honor  that  is  conferred  upon  me  tonight,  for  I  can 
introduce  to  you  the  next  President  of  the  United  States, 
Abraham  Lincoln."  ("Personal  Glimpses  of  Celebrated  Men 
and  Women,"  Russell  H.  Conwell.  John  C.  Winston  &  Co., 
Publishers,  Philadelphia.  Page  354.)  Little  did  he  think, 
perhaps,    that    less    than    nine    months    from    that    date,    his 


The  Presidential  Campaign  87 

prophecy  would  become  a  reality.  At  least,  during  that  time, 
the  people  of  the  United  States  had  indicated  him  as  their 
choice  by  a  very  respectable  plurality  vote,  which  insured  him 
his  election. 

This  Cooper  Institute  address  was  one  of  the  most  notable 
as  well  as  one  of  the  ablest  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  life.  The  speaker's 
appearance  on  the  stage  was,  as  usual  in  the  beginning,  unin- 
viting, and  his  speech  hesitating  and  awkward.  All  this  was 
changed  in  a  few  minutes,  for  the  charm  of  diction  and  force- 
ful, illuminating  expression,  always  characteristic  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, soon  absorbed  and  held  the  attention  of  the  audience  to 
the  end.  Good  old  Noah  Brooks  was  present  and  spoke  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  as  follows:  "But  pretty  soon  he  began  to  get  into 
his  subject;  he  straightened  up,  made  regular  and  graceful 
gestures;  his  face  lighted  as  with  an  inward  fire;  the  whole 
man  was  transfigured.  I  forgot  his  clothes,  his  personal  appear- 
ance, his  individualities.  Presently  forgetting  myself,  I  was 
on  my  feet  with  the  rest,  yelling  like  a  wild  Indian,  cheering 
this  wonderful  man;  in  the  closing  parts  of  his  argument,  you 
could  hear  the  gentle  sizzling  of  the  gas  burners.  When  he 
reached  a  climax,  the  thunders  of  applause  were  terrific.  It 
was  a  great  speech." 

He  further  states:  "When  I  came  out  of  the  hall,  my  face 
glowing  with  excitement  and  my  frame  all  a-quiver,  I  re- 
marked to  a  friend  near  me,  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the 
greatest  man  since  St.  Paul."  ("Abraham  Lincoln  and  the 
Downfall  of  Slavery,"  Noah  Brooks.  Page  186.  Courtesy 
G.  P.  Putnams  Sons,  Publishers,  New  York  and  London.)  I 
think  Mr.  Brooks  voiced  the  sentiment  of  every  intelligent  audi- 
tor present.  It  was  quite  plain,  as  a  writer  states  it,  "that 
Lincoln  had  captured  the  metropolis." 

He  next  traveled  to  New  England,  and  on  his  way  visited 
his  son,  Robert,  who  was  attending  college  at  Exeter,  N.  H. 


88  Abraham  Lincoln 

He  spoke  at  many  places  in  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island  and 
New  Hampshire.  The  New  York  papers  had  given  extended 
publicity  of  his  great  speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  and  thus 
his  fame  had  preceded  him  into  the  New  England  states.  He 
was  everywhere  recognized  and  received  as  the  "Cicero"  of 
the  West;  hence  the  vast  numbers  that  attended  to  hear  his 
addresses,  wherever  he  spoke.  It  is  not  surprising  that  now, 
his  name  and  fame  having  reached  from  sea  to  sea,  he  should 
be  regarded  as  a  man  typifying  Presidential  timber. 

On  every  occasion  when  his  name  was  mentioned  in  this 
connection,  in  his  presence,  he  was  wont  to  reply:  "What's 
the  use  of  talking  of  me  for  the  presidency,  while  we  have 
such  men  as  Seward,  Chase  and  others  who  are  so  much  better 
known  to  the  people  and  whose  names  are  intimately  associated 
with  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party?  Everybody 
knows  them,  nobody  knows  me,  scarcely,  outside  of  Illinois. 
Besides,  is  it  not,  as  a  matter  of  justice,  due  to  such  men,  who 
have  carried  the  movement  forward  to  its  present  status,  in 
spite  of  fearful  opposition,  personal  abuse,  and  hard  names? 
I  really  think  so."  I  quote  from  Miss  Ida  M.  Tarbell's  "The 
Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  Vol.  1,  page  334,  The  Macmillan 
Company,  N.  Y.,  publishers. 

The  Republicans  of  Illinois  thought  otherwise.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  regarded  as  the  "first  citizen"  of  the  State,  and  his  friends 
indulged  the  hope  that  he  and  his  State  might  be  honored  by 
his  nomination  for  the  presidency  at  the  approaching  Chicago 
convention,  and  his  triumphant  election,  the  following  Novem- 
ber. In  this,  they  were  not  disappointed.  The  Republican 
party  of  the  State  of  Illinois  held  their  State  convention  at 
Decatur,  May  9  and  10,  1860. 

Governor  Oglesby,  being  in  the  convention  and  spying 
Mr.  Lincoln,  who  was  present  as  a  spectator,  arose  and  said: 
"I  am  informed  that  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Illinois,  and  one 


The  Presidential  Campaign  89 

whom  Illinois  will  ever  delight  to  honor,  is  present;  and  I 
wish  to  move  that  this  body  invite  him  to  a  seat  on  the  stand." 
("Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Backwoods  Boy,"  Horatio  Alger,  Jr. 
Page  170.  Popular  Magazine,  N.  Y.,  Publishers.)  Everyone 
was  on  tiptoe  to  ascertain  who  this  distinguished  person  was. 
In  a  moment  or  two,  the  Governor  mentioned  the  name  of 
"Abraham  Lincoln."  The  latter  took  his  place  on  the  plat- 
form amid  the  enthusiastic  demonstration  of  an  admiring  dele- 
gation, and  delivered  a  forceful  address,  appropriate  to  the 
occasion.  Before  he  commenced  his  address,  however,  an  inci- . 
dent  occurred  that  brought  vividly  to  the  minds  of  the  audience 
the  hardships  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  early  life. 

An  old  man  by  name  of  John  Hanks  (an  uncle  or  cousin 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  think)  stood  at  the  door  of  the  Wigwam 
with  a  couple  of  rails  on  his  back  that  he  and  Lincoln  had 
made  about  thirty  years  before.  He  was  invited  in,  and  his 
entrance  with  the  rails  "was  greeted  with  tumultuous  applause," 
it  is  stated.  These  rails  were  surmounted  by  a  banner,  bearing 
the  inscription,  "TWO  RAILS  from  a  lot  made  by  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  John  Hanks,  in  the  Sangamon  Bottom,  in  the 
year  1830." 

The  demonstration  attending  such  a  scene  can  better  be 
imagined  than  described.  If  my  readers  will  return  to  the 
early  pages  of  this  biography  they  will  ascertain  that  about 
1830,  Thomas  Lincoln  and  young  Abraham  left  their  Indiana 
home  and  came  to  John  Hanks,  near  Decatur  (the  city  of 
this  convention)  where  these  rails  were  made.  The  convention 
having  displayed  their  enthusiasm,  resumed  their  usual  routine 
of  business. 

Having  appointed  their  delegates  to  the  National  convention 
to  be  held  at  Chicago  the  convention,  or  a  member  thereof, 
introduced  a  resolution,  which  was  duly  passed,  declaring 
that  "Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  first  choice  of  the  Republican 


90  Abraham  Lincoln 

party  of  Illinois  for  the  presidency,  and  instructing  the  dele- 
gates to  the  Chicago  convention  to  use  all  honorable  means  to 
secure  his  nomination,  and  to  cast  the  vote  of  the  State  as  a 
unit  for  him."  ("Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Backwoods  Boy," 
Horatio  Alger,  Jr.  Page  170,  Popular  Magazine,  N.  Y., 
Publishers.) 

The  Republican  convention  met  in  Chicago  a  week  later, 
May  16,  1860.  "Lincoln  was  at  home  with  his  family,"  says 
one  writer,  Joseph  H.  Barrett,  "three  days  before  the  meeting 
of  the  Republican  National  convention  at  Chicago,  where  the 
delegates  were  already  gathering.  It  was  a  quiet  Sunday,  the 
like  of  which,  to  him,  would  never  return." 

An  illustrated  New  York  paper  was  on  the  table  in  the 
Lincoln  home,  containing  the  portraits  of  the  different  presi- 
dential candidates,  including  those  of  Governor  Seward  and 
Mr.  Lincoln.  The  portrait  of  the  latter  in  no  way  did  him 
justice;  and  when  Mrs.  Lincoln  examined  it  she  remarked 
somewhat  seriously:  "A  look  at  that  face  is  enough  to  put  an 
end  to  hope."  ("Abraham  Lincoln  and  His  Presidency,"  Joseph 
H.  Barrett,  LL.D.  Vol  1,  Page  216-D.  Appleton  and  Com- 
pany, N.  Y.,  Publishers.) 

When  the  delegates  met  in  convention  at  Chicago,  at  the 
time  named  aforesaid,  many  states  had  aspiring  candidates 
for  the  presidential  nomination.  Missouri  was  supporting  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Bates,  Ohio  favored  the  nomination  of 
Salmon  P.  Chase,  New  York  that  of  Governor  Seward,  and 
Illinois,  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  delegates  of  the  latter  not 
only  enthusiastically  supported  their  candidate,  but  went  into 
the  convention  with  a  united  and  determined  effort  to  secure  it. 

Up  to  that  hour,  Governor  Seward  was  the  most  pronounced 
and  most  expectant  candidate  to  come  before  the  convention. 
He  was  or  had  been,  the  Governor  of  the  great  State  of  New 
York,  and  U.  S.  Senator,  with  a  record  of  distinguished  service 


The  Presidential  Campaign  91 

in  the  old  Whig,  now  Republican  party,  in  the  cause  of  human 
freedom  and  negro  emancipation.  In  addition  to  this  prestige, 
he  came  into  the  convention  with  seventy  votes  from  his  own 
State,  enough,  as  he  thought  to  secure,  with  the  aid  of  other 
pledged  delegates,  his  nomination  beyond  a  peradventure.  His 
friends  and  delegates  were  quite  vociferous,  flushed  as  they 
were  with  anticipated,  almost  assured,  victory.  But  the  dele- 
gates and  citizens  from  the  Sucker  State  were  not  caught  nap- 
ping. On  the  lip  of  every  Illinois  Republican  there  was  but 
one  name,  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

In  the  big  Wigwam,  the  same  enthusiasm  for  the  great 
Commoner  was  manifested.  There  was  in  the  audience  a  regu- 
lar Boanerges  in  the  person  of  a  certain  Dr.  Ames,  who  had 
the  lungs  and  voice  of  a  lion.  Mr.  Arnold  in  his  life  of  Lincoln 
says:  "He  had  a  voice  sufficiently  powerful  to  be  heard  above 
the  uproar  of  the  lake  in  the  wildest  storm."  The  doctor  was 
a  Democrat,  he  says,  but  readily  consented  to  shout  for  Lin- 
coln. Perhaps  a  few  ducats  inspired  his  enthusiasm.  Mr. 
Arnold  goes  on  to  recite  that,  "With  an  organized  band  he  was 
placed  at  one  end  of  the  Wigwam;  another  body  was  placed 
at  the  opposite  end.  Mr.  Cook  of  Ottawa,  an  acquaintance  of 
this  writer,  a  delegate,  was  upon  the  platform.  Whenever  he 
waved  his  handkerchief  they  were  to  cheer.  It  was  that  hand- 
kerchief which  set  the  ten  thousand  Illinoisans  in  the  Wigwam 
wild  with  enthusiasm."  ("The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  Isaac 
N.  Arnold.)  ("Reminiscences  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  C.  C. 
Coffin.     Page  164.     Harper  Brothers,  New  York,  Publishers.) 

On  the  third  day  it  was  quite  evident  the  balloting  would 
begin  and  the  great  Wigwam  was  early  filled,  and  filled  to 
capacity.  Several  states  had  aspiring  candidates  whose  names 
were  presented  by  different  orators,  but  their  presentation 
occasioned  but  little  enthusiasm.  When,  however,  William  M. 
Evarts,  distinguished  lawyer  of  New  York  city  and  grandson 


92  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  Roger  Sherman,  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
came  forward  and,  in  an  eloquent  address  nominated  William 
H.  Seward  for  President,  they  "greeted  his  name  with  a  perfect 
storm  of  applause,"  it  is  stated.  When  the  storm  had  subsided, 
Norman  B.  Judd,  who  had  Mr.  Lincoln's  interests  in  hand, 
placed  in  nomination  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois, 
"and  in  the  tremendous  cheering  that  broke  from  the  throats 
of  his  admirers  and  followers,  the  former  demonstration  dwin- 
dled to  comparative  feebleness,"  says  John  G.  Nicolay,  one 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  historians.  When  order  was  restored,  the 
chairman  announced  that  balloting  would  begin.  Five  or  six 
candidates  received  the  substantial  vote  of  their  respective 
states,  but  Seward  and  Lincoln  absorbed  the  interest  of  the 
convention. 

The  counting  of  the  ballots  revealed  the  fact  that  Governor 
Seward  had  received  173i/2  votes,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  had  received 
102.  This  first  ballot  showed  that  Governor  Seward  had  re- 
ceived quite  a  majority,  an  unexpected  majority,  over  Mr. 
Lincoln.  This  was  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  New  York 
alone  had  contributed  seventy  votes  to  the  Governor's  total, 
while  Illinois  had  no  such  number  to  give  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  This 
would  indicate  that  the  seeming  dissimilarity  in  the  votes  of 
the  two  candidates  was  not  as  great  as  at  first  supposed. 

The  exultation  and  hopes  of  the  New  York  delegates  sank 
somewhat  when  the  result  of  the  second  ballot  was  announced. 
The  Governor  received  184%,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  181.  Mr.  Nico- 
lay, from  whose  account  of  the  convention  I  quote  somewhat 
freely,  states  "That  a  volume  of  applause,  which  was  with 
difficulty  checked  by  the  chairman,  shook  the  Wigwam  at  this 
announcement."  The  same  writer  goes  on  to  state  that  "neither 
candidate  had  received  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast,  and 
the  third  ballot  was  begun  amid  a  deep,  almost  painful  sus- 
pense, delegates  and  spectators  alike  recording  each  announce- 


The  Presidential  Campaign  93 

ment  of  votes  on  their  tally-sheets  with  nervous  fingers."  When 
the  totals  were  figured  up,  Lincoln  had  received  23iy2,  and 
Governor  Seward  180.  As  465  votes  had  been  cast,  233  were 
necessary  to  a  choice.  In  this  ballot  Seward  had  lost  four  and 
one-half  votes  while  Lincoln  had  gained  fifty  and  one-half, 
and  only  lacked  one  and  one-half  to  assure  his  nomination. 

It  is  said  that  the  Wigwam  became  "still  as  a  church"  and 
everyone  was  anxious  to  learn  from  what  source  the  needed 
one  and  one-half  votes  would  come.  Presently  a  delegate  by 
name  of  David  K.  Carter  arose  and  announced  a  change  of 
four  votes  from  Chase  of  Ohio  to  Abraham  Lincoln.  "A  teller 
shouted  the  name  towards  the  skylight,"  says  Mr.  Nicolay, 
"and  a  boom  of  cannon  from  the  roof  of  the  Wigwam  an- 
nounced the  nomination  and  started  the  cheering  of  the  over- 
joyed Illinoisans  down  the  long  Chicago  streets,  while  in  the 
Wigwam,  delegation  after  delegation  changed  its  vote  to  the 
victor  amid  the  tumult  of  hurrahs."  Mr.  Evarts,  speaking  for 
New  York  and  its  candidate,  did  the  manly  thing  by  moving 
to  make  the  nomination  unanimous.  Mr.  Browning  arose  and 
thanked  the  convention  most  gracefully  for  the  honor  it  had 
conferred  on  the  State  of  Illinois. 

In  the  afternoon  the  work  of  the  convention  was  completed 
by  the  nomination  of  Hannibal  Hamlin  of  Maine  for  Vice- 
President.  During  the  convention  Mr.  Lincoln  had  remained 
in  Springfield  entertaining  his  friends  royally,  as  was  his  cus- 
tom, but  a  little  anxious,  doubtless,  as  to  the  outcome  of  the 
Chicago  assembly.  News  finally  came  that  balloting  had  begun, 
and  one  states  it,  "he  could  hardly  endure  to  await  for  the 
result."  Shortly  afterwards,  while  he  was  conversing  with  a 
group  of  friends,  near  the  telegraph  office,  a  shout  went  up 
from  the  door  of  the  said  office,  indication  that  some  unusual 
news  had  been  received,  and  quickly  a  boy  pushed  his  way 
through  the  crowd,  and  running  up  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  cried  out: 


94  Abraham  Lincoln 

"Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Lincoln,  you  are  nominated."  The  news 
soon  reached  every  part  of  the  city,  and  his  friends  flocked 
around  him  in  large  numbers  extending  the  glad  hand  of  con- 
gratulations. These  he  received  with  expressions  of  apprecia- 
tion and  modesty;  and  thinking  of  the  loved  one  who  presided 
over  his  household,  with  a  form  "more  beautiful  than  was 
ever  carved  by  Grecian  artist  from  parian  marble,"  he  re- 
marked: "My  friends,  I  am  glad  to  receive  your  congratula- 
tions, and  as  there  is  a  little  woman  down  on  Eighth  Street 
who  will  be  glad  to  hear  the  news,  you  must  excuse  me  till  I 
can  inform  her." 

However  desirous  Mr.  Lincoln  was  to  be  the  first  to  com- 
municate the  good  news  to  his  wife,  he  found  on  his  arrival 
that  others  had  preceded  him,  and  the  "little  woman"  already 
"knew  the  honor  which  for  twenty  years  or  more  she  had  be- 
lieved and  stoutly  declared  her  husband  deserved,  and  which 
a  great  multitude  of  men  had  sworn  to  do  their  best  to  obtain 
for  him,  at  last  had  come."  ("The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln," 
Ida  M.  Tarbell.  Vol.  1,  Page  357.  The  Macmillan  Company, 
N.  Y.,  Publishers.) 

On  the  morning  following  the  adjournment  of  the  con- 
vention, the  committee  appointed  to  notify  Mr.  Lincoln,  num- 
bering, including  correspondents,  about  thirty,  started  for 
Springfield.  It  was  about  nightfall  when  the  train  reached  the 
city,  and  after  eight  o'clock  when  the  committee  reached  the 
home  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  host  and  hostess  received  their 
guests  with  great  cordiality,  as  would  be  expected.  The  chair- 
man of  the  committee,  Mr.  Ashmun,  stated  the  action  of  the 
convention,  and  the  pleasant  duty  they  were  charged  to  per- 
form, thus  apprising  him  of  the  distinguished  honor  that  had 
been  conferred  on  him. 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied  briefly  and  quite  felicitously.  There 
was  an  indescribable  charm  in  his  tones,  it  is  said,  and  a  ten- 


The  Presidential  Campaign  95 

derness  of  voice  that  commanded  instant  attention  and  admi- 
ration. 

The  formal  services  having  been  concluded,  an  hour  was 
spent  in  social  converse.  Three  noble  sons  were  present  to 
enjoy,  if  not  to  participate  in  "the  feast  of  reason  and  flow  of 
soul"  that  were  to  follow.  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  a  charming  and 
most  cultured  conversationalist.  She  was  the  daughter  of  a 
distinguished  Kentucky  family,  and  enjoyed  in  her  early  days, 
all  the  advantages  that  wealth  and  position  could  afford.  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  gifted  with  a  facility  of  speech  that,  when  used 
in  relating  an  anecdote  or  incident,  was  delightfully  inspiring 
and  entertaining.  Thus  he  was  enabled  to  beautify  or  embel- 
lish a  conversation  or  statement  in  a  way  and  to  an  extent  that 
few  men  possessed.  The  power  of  this  gifted  couple  to  enter- 
tain was  brought  into  immediate  requisition,  and  continued 
during  the  hour. 

At  length  the  host  remarked  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  would  be 
pleased  to  see  them  in  an  adjoining  room.  He  further  stated 
that  they  must  be  thirsty  after  their  long  ride,  and  that  they 
would  find  a  pitcher  of  water  in  the  library.  The  guests  found 
a  pitcher  of  cold  water,  and  glasses,  but  no  wines  or  liquors, 
as  one  writer  states  it. 

In  anticipation  of  the  arrival  of  the  informing  committee, 
some  friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln  had  suggested  to  him  the  neces- 
sity of  providing  wines  and  liquors  for  the  occasion.  This 
was  promptly  refused,  or  declined,  by  him.  He  further  stated 
that  he  had  no  liquors  in  the  house,  "and  that  he  never  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  entertaining  his  friends  in  that  way."  That 
was  conclusive.  The  committee  on  retiring  thought,  it  is  to 
be  hoped,  that  the  beverage  to  which  they  had  been  treated 
was  superior  to  the  choicest  wines  of  the  choicest  vintage  of 
which  they  had  imbibed  or  had  previous  knowledge. 

Changing  the  thought  somewhat,  I  wish  to  refer  to  some 


96  Abraham  Lincoln 

phases  of  the  great  convention.  The  defeat  of  their  idol  can- 
didate, Governor  Seward,  must  have  brought  intense  disappoint- 
ment and  chagrin  to  the  New  York  delegates,  especially  to  the 
"Big  Five,"  Thurlow  Weed,  who  had  charge  of  Governor 
Seward's  affairs;  Horace  Greeley,  the  renowned  editor  of  the 
New  York  Tribune;  William  M.  Evarts,  a  grandson  of  Roger 
Sherman,  of  Revolutionary  fame;  David  W.  Field,  an  eminent 
New  York  lawyer,  and  brother  of  Cyrus  Field,  of  oceanic 
cable  fame,  and  of  Stephen  Field,  judge  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court;  and  William  Cullen  Bryant,  editor  of  the 
New  York  Evening  Post. 

C.  C.  Coffin,  in  writing  of  the  convention,  says:  "During 
the  convention  I  chanced  to  sit  at  a  table  with  Thurlow  Weed, 
and  had  an  excellent  opportunity  to  study  his  face.  I  doubt 
if  during  his  long  and  eventful  life  he  ever  experienced  a 
greater  disappointment  or  a  keener  sorrow.  I  saw  him  press 
his  fingers  hard  upon  his  eyelids  to  keep  his  tears  down.  His 
plans  all  miscarried.  It  was  the  sinking  of  a  great  hope.  The 
rail-splitter,  story-teller,  the  ungainly,  uneducated  practitioner 
of  the  Sangamon  bar,  instead  of  the  able,  learned,  classical, 
polished  Senator;  and  Mr.  Weed  did  not  comprehend  that  the 
mob  in  the  Wigwam  was  the  best  possible  representative  of  the 
rising  public  opinion."  ("Reminiscences  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln," C.  C.  Coffin.  Page  164.  Harper  &  Brothers,  N.  Y., 
Publishers.)  It  may  be  further  said,  and  with  a  reasonable 
presumption,  that,  in  the  event  of  Governor  Seward's  nomina- 
tion and  election,  each  of  the  above  named  gentlemen  would 
expect,  and  probably  demand,  some  recognition  at  his  hands, 
commensurate  to  their  ability  and  influence  displayed  in  secur- 
ing his  nomination. 

No  doubt  that  either  Mr.  Weed  or  William  M.  Evarts, 
perhaps  both,  would  have  prized  and  sought  the  appointment 
as  minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  for  which  each  possessed 


The  Presidential  Campaign  97 

undoubted  qualifications.  Horace  Greeley  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  and  it  is  said  he  wished  to  return.  Governor 
Seward's  influence,  as  President-elect,  would  have  been  very 
effective  in  aiding  him  in  his  aspirations.  David  Dudley  Field, 
the  eminent  New  York  attorney,  doubtless  wished  to  secure  an 
appointment  on  the  Supreme  bench,  and  thus  be  privileged  to 
sit  beside  his  noted  brother.  Perhaps  the  editor  and  poet- 
author  of  "Thanatopsis,"  now  64  years  old,  preferred  the 
quietude  of  his  editorial  sanctum  and  the  wielding  of  his  pen, 
which  was  a  facile  one,  in  the  interest  of  his  presidential  can- 
didate, than  receive  any  appointment  available  in  the  gift  of 
the  President. 

One  more  word  concerning  Mr.  Lincoln's  nomination,  and 
I  will  have  done.  It  may  appear  a  drop  from  "the  sublime  to 
the  ridiculous,"  but  here  it  is.  I  shall  always  remember  the 
day  of  the  nomination.  I  was  breaking  prairie  with  a  team 
of  oxen  on  the  Bloomington  road,  south  of  Ottawa,  when  a 
passerby  announced  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  said 
he  preferred  Seward,  but  Lincoln  would  do.  We  all  soon 
thought  that  "Lincoln  would  do." 

A  few  days  after  the  visitation  of  the  committee  to  Spring- 
field, on  May  23,  1860,  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  and  sent  a  formal 
letter  of  acceptance  to  the  chairman  of  the  convention. 

A  copy  of  the  letter  follows: 

Springfield,  Illinois,  May  23,  1860. 
Hon.  George  Ashmun, 
President  of  the  Republican  National  Convention. 

Sir:  I  accept  the  nomination  tendered  me  by  the 
convention  over  which  you  presided,  of  which  I  am 
formally  apprised  in  the  letter  of  yourself  and  others 
acting  as  a  Committee  of  the  Convention  for  that 
purpose. 

The  declaration  of  the  principles  and  sentiments 


98  Abraham  Lincoln 

which  accompanies  your  letter  meets  my  approval, 
and  it  shall  be  my  care  not  to  violate  it,  or  disregard 
it  in  any  part. 

Imploring  the  assistance  of  Divine  Providence, 
and  with  due  regard  to  the  feelings  of  all  who  were 
represented  in  the  convention,  to  the  rights  of  all  the 
States  and  Territories  and  people  of  the  Nation,  to 
the  inviolability  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  perpetual 
union,  harmony  and  prosperity  of  all,  I  am  most 
happy  to  co-operate  for  the  practical  success  of  the 
principles  declared  by  the  convention. 

Your  obliged  friend  and  fellow  citizen, 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  write  a  history  of  the  Democratic 
party  or  their  presidential  candidates  during  the  memorable 
year  of  1860;  a  year  made  memorable  by  the  split  of  the  said 
party,  resulting  in  a  near  dissolution  of  the  Union  and  dismem- 
berment of  the  states.  It  is  not  my  purpose  thus  to  write,  I 
state;  but  a  brief  correlative  statement  of  the  position  taken 
by  the  different  parties  on  the  all-absorbing,  paramount  ques- 
tion, that  year,  of  slavery,  may  be  interesting  to  my  readers, 
especially  young  readers. 

It  is  generally  known  that  the  Democratic  party  held  its 
national  convention  that  year  in  Baltimore,  Md.  A  split  in 
the  party,  from  the  start,  seemed  to  be  inevitable.  The  position 
of  Senator  Douglas  that  the  existence  of  slavery  in  territories 
should  be  contingent  on,  or  determined  by  the  popular  vote  of 
said  territories,  was  as  obnoxious  to  the  South,  as  that  taken 
by  Mr.  Lincoln,  or  more  so. 

The  proceedings  of  the  convention  had  not  advanced  very 
far  till  it  became  evident  that  no  agreement  could  be  reached 
in  the  framing  of  their  resolution  touching  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, and  so  there  seemed  to  be  only  one  course  for  each  wing 


The  Presidential  Campaign  99 

of  the  party  to  pursue  and  that  was  to  "bolt"  the  convention 
and  each  nominate  its  own  candidate.  This  they  proceeded  to 
do,  the  Northern  Democrats  nominating  Judge  Douglas,  and 
the  Southern,  pro-slavery  Democrats,  the  Hon.  John  C.  Breck- 
inridge. Mr.  Breckinridge  was  very  popular  in  the  South, 
having  been  Vice-President  under  James  Buchanan,  and  also 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate. 

Previous  to  the  convention,  the  Southern  leaders  had  given 
repeated  and  earnest  warnings.  They  assumed  a  position  of 
malignant  hostility  to  the  North.  Listen  to  their  protests,  or 
even  stronger  declaration.  "Gentlemen  of  the  North,"  they 
said,  "look  well  to  your  doings :  If  you  insist  on  your  'Squatter 
sovereignty'  platform,  in  full  view  of  its  condemnation  by  the 
Supreme  Court  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  you  break  up  the 
Democratic  party,  nay  more,  you  break  up  the  Union.  The 
unity  of  the  Democratic  party  is  the  last  bond  that  holds  the 
Union  together;  that  snapped,  there  is  no  other  that  can  be 
trusted  for  a  year." 

Horace  Greeley,  in  his  great  work,  known  as  "The  Ameri- 
can Conflict,"  gives  a  clear  definition  of  the  position  on  which 
each  candidate  stood.  He  discards  the  "Constitutional  Union" 
party,  sponsored  by  Bell  and  Everett,  as  meaning  nothing,  and 
proceeds  to  say:  "The  Lincoln,  Douglas  and  Breckinridge 
parties  had  deliberately  planted  themselves,  respectively,  on 
the  following  positions: 

"1 — Lincoln:  Slavery  can  only  exist  by  virtue  of  municipal 
law;  and  there  is  no  law  for  it  in  the  territories,  and  no  power 
to  enact  one.  Congress  can  establish  or  legalize  slavery  no- 
where, but  is  bound  to  prohibit  it  in  or  exclude  it  from  any 
and  every  Federal  territory,  whenever  and  wherever  there  shall 
be  necessity  or  exclusion  or  prohibition. 

"2 — Douglas:  Slavery  or  no  slavery  in  any  territory  is 
entirely  the  affair  of  the  white  inhabitants  of  such  territory.  If 
they  chose  to  have  it,  it  is  their  right;   if  they  chose  not  to 


100  Abraham  Lincoln 

have  it,  they  have  the  right  to  exclude  or  prohibit  it.  Neither 
Congress  nor  the  people  of  the  Union,  nor  any  part  of  it,  out- 
side of  the  said  territory,  have  any  right  to  meddle  with  or 
trouble  themselves  about  the  matter. 

"3 — Breckinridge:  The  citizen  of  any  state  has  a  right  to 
migrate  to  any  territory,  taking  with  him  anything  which  is 
property  by  the  law  of  his  own  state,  and  hold,  enjoy,  and  be 
protected  in  the  use  of  such  property  in  said  territory.  And 
Congress  is  bound  to  render  such  protection  wherever  neces- 
sary, whether  with  or  without  the  co-operation  of  the  Terri- 
torial Legislature." 

The  above  declaration  of  principles,  announced  by  the 
three  candidates  of  the  political  parties  which  they  represented, 
viz:  the  Republican  party  and  the  two  wings  of  the  Democratic 
party,  North  and  South,  should  give  ample  knowledge  to  young 
readers,  older  ones  already  knowing  it,  of  the  great  issues 
being  discussed  by  party  leaders  that  year.  Seldom,  if  ever, 
have  the  citizens  of  this  great  Republic  been  so  agitated  over 
political  issues  and  political  measures,  involving  as  they  did 
the  extension  or  limitation  of  slavery,  as  they  were  during  the 
campaign  of  1860.  The  exciting  campaigns  of  Blaine  and 
Cleveland  in  '84  and  of  McKinley  and  Bryan  in  '96  are  pos- 
sible exceptions. 

Thus  were  the  issues  of  the  respective  parties  clearly  de- 
fined. Either  the  universal  extension  of  slavery  into  Northern 
territories  and  states,  under  the  "popular  sovereignty"  policy 
of  Douglas,  or  the  non-extension  of  slavery  into  such  territories 
and  states  by  the  Lincoln  policy  of  Congressional  prohibition. 

Judge  Douglas  made  quite  an  extended  canvass  during  the 
campaign,  if  my  memory  serves  me  right;  but  Mr.  Lincoln 
made  but  few  addresses,  as  I  recall.  However,  many  eminent 
statesmen  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Republican  party  and  its  re- 
nowned presidential  candidate.    The  list  includes  such  distin- 


The  Presidential  Campaign  101 

guished  orators  as  the  following:  Senator  Lyman  Trumball, 
Hon  John  A.  Logan,  Governor  Oglesby  and  others  of  Illinois; 
Senators  Grimes  and  Harlan  of  Iowa;  Hon.  Geo.  W.  Julian 
and  Hon.  Benjamin  Harrison  of  Indiana;  Hon.  Ben  Wade,  Hon. 
Joshua  R.  Giddings  and  Governor  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio; 
Senator  Zack  Chandler  of  Michigan,  the  hero  of  a  thousand 
political  battles ;  Hon.  Thurlow  Weed,  Hon.  William  M.  Evarts, 
Governor  Seward  and  others  of  New  York;  Hon.  Simon  Cam- 
eron and  Thad  Stephens  of  Pennsylvania;  Hon.  Charles  Sum- 
ner and  Wendell  Phillips  of  Massachusetts;  Hon.  James  G. 
Blaine  and  Hannibal  Hamlin  of  Maine;  Hon.  Cassius  M.  Clay, 
nephew  of  old  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  and  scores  of  others 
scarcely  less  noted,  whose  names  I  do  not  recall.  Special  men- 
tion should  be  made  of  Cassius  M.  Clay  and  the  great  service 
he  rendered  his  country.  Born  and  reared  in  the  State  of  Ken- 
tucky and  always  surrounded  by  a  pro-slavery  atmosphere  and 
influence,  he  became,  nevertheless,  a  strong  anti-slavery  man 
and  ardently  espoused  the  cause  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1860. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  him  in  that  campaign.  He 
was  considered  as  able  or  abler  a  platform  orator  than  his 
noted  uncle.  He  was  lion-hearted  and  feared  nothing.  He 
spoke  often  in  his  own  state  and  perhaps  in  other  Southern 
states,  but  always  at  the  risk  of  imminent  death.  His  life  was 
threatened  many  times  by  the  slave-holding  oligarchy  of  the 
South,  but  to  no  effect.  He  was  accustomed  to  place  two  re- 
volvers on  his  desk  at  each  place  of  speaking,  and  announce 
in  advance  that  if  any  person  or  persons  attempted  to  molest 
him  while  speaking,  they  would  get  the  contents  of  his  weapons. 
His  audience  knew  very  well  that  he  would  put  his  threat  into 
execution,  if  occasion  demanded  it,  and  thus  he  was  allowed 
to  proceed.  He  probably  did  more  than  any  dozen  men  of  his 
state  in  keeping  Kentucky  in  the  Union  during  the  early  and 
later  days  of  secession.     Lincoln  honored  his  valor  and  great 


102  Abraham  Lincoln 

service  by  sending  him  to  the  Court  of  Russia,  as  our  Minister 
Plenipotentiary.  Seldom,  if  ever,  was  there  such  a  company 
of  distinguished  orators  and  statesmen,  in  our  Republic,  united 
in  a  common  and  spontaneous  protest  against  the  imminent 
aggression  of  slavery  in  newly  acquired  territory  and  on  North- 
ern soil.  All  regarded  this  aggression  as  a  grave  menace  to 
our  free  institutions  and  the  liberties  of  the  people. 

As  long  as  the  Federal  law,  known  as  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, remained  intact,  as  it  did  from  1820  to  1854,  con- 
fining slavery  to  states  in  which  it  already  existed,  the  North 
enjoyed  a  feeling  of  security;  but  its  repeal  occasioned  a  politi- 
cal upheaval,  a  sense  of  universal  opposition,  excitement  and 
alarm,  the  like  of  which  had  never  before  been  known  in  this 
country.  During  the  fall  campaign,  much  opposition  to  the 
candidacy  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  developed,  North  as  well  as 
South. 

Lincoln  could  withstand  the  calumnious  assaults  of  the 
Southern  press,  but  to  be  villified  and  misrepresented  by  North- 
ern journals,  especially  by  a  few  of  the  Republican  papers, 
was  hard  on  his  sensitive  nerves.  Few  men  like  to  "be  wound- 
ed in  the  house  of  their  friends."  The  one  paper  in  New  York 
city  disposed  most  to  malign  the  good  name  and  character  of 
the  noble  Lincoln  was  the  New  York  Herald.  At  least,  it  was 
so  reported  in  substance.  The  great  Commoner  was  character- 
ized, if  correctly  reported,  by  said  paper  as  "a  third  rate 
country  lawyer,  poorer  even  than  poor  Pierce."  He  would  be 
of  little  worth  if  elected.  He  was  given  to  "coarse  and  clumsy 
jokes  and  could  not  speak  good  grammar,  etc."  He  was  given 
the  sobriquet  of  "honest  old  Abe"  to  distinguish  him  from  the 
other  members  of  his  own  party. 

Horace  Greeley,  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  came  nobly  to 
his  defense.  "A  man,  who  by  his  own  genius  and  force  of 
character,  has  raised  himself  from  being  a  penniless  and  un- 


The  Presidential  Campaign  103 

educated  flat-boatman  on  the  Wabash  River  to  the  position 
Mr.  Lincoln  now  occupies,  is  not  likely  to  be  a  nullity  any- 
where," he  asserted.  William  Cullen  Bryant,  editor  of  the 
New  York  Evening  Post,  came  also  to  the  support  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln and  to  the  nobility  of  his  character.  He  declared,  among 
other  things,  that  the  Republican  presidential  candidate  was 
"a  real  representative  man."  It  is  said  that  "reporters  were 
sent  West  to  describe  his  home,  his  habits  and  family."  The 
report  as  published  in  the  leading  Eastern  journals  was  a  very 
pleasing  and  reassuring  one. 

They  described  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  gentleman  who  dressed 
becomingly,  the  owner  of  a  fine  two-story  dwelling,  had  a  cul- 
tured wife,  formerly  of  Kentucky,  who  could  speak  French  flu- 
ently, was  the  father  of  three  noble  sons,  the  oldest,  Robert, 
being  a  student  in  Harvard  College,  and  he  (Lincoln)  himself 
being  a  descendant  of  an  aristocratic  English  family,  a  few 
generations  back.  This  report  was  productive  of  the  desired 
result.  It  was  indeed,  in  common  parlance,  "an  eye-opener." 
Few  people  in  the  East  dreamed  of  such  standing  and  charac- 
teristics of  their  candidate. 

Instead  of  being  the  "rail-splitter  and  flat-boatman,"  so 
contemptuously  described  by  the  Democratic  press,  he  was 
thenceforth  known  as  the  eminent  lawyer,  the  brilliant  orator, 
the  great  statesman  of  the  West.  While  possessing  but  a  limited 
education,  his  attainments  were  such  that,  in  knowledge  of  pub- 
lic men  and  measures  and  of  world  movements  as  well,  he 
became  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  America.  The  publication 
of  the  reports  as  aforesaid,  with  similar  editorials  from  great 
journals,  East  and  West,  disarmed  adverse  criticism  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  most  effectually,  and  placed  him  in  his  true  light. 
Opposition,  abuse,  malignity  gave  way  to  support,  commenda- 
tion and  praise.  His  reputation  for  rugged  honesty  and  manly 
worth  soon  asserted  itself  and  brought  him  to  the  fore. 


104  Abraham  Lincoln 

In  all  the  Republican  gatherings  that  fall,  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Western  sea  coast,  immense  throngs  were  in  attendance. 
You  would  naturally  anticipate  this,  from  the  paramount  issues 
involved  and  from  the  character  and  pre-eminent  ability  of  the 
orators,  on  each  occasion.  They  were  men  of  national  and 
international  reputation,  and  in  some  instances,  drew  their 
audiences  from  a  radius  of  100  miles  or  more. 

During  the  campaign,  in  August,  1860,  Mr.  Lincoln's 
friends,  from  far  and  near,  decided  to  visit  him  at  his  home 
city.  It  is  said  that  70,000  people,  mostly  strangers,  poured 
into  Springfield  that  day.  They  came  largely  from  the  adjoin- 
ing states  of  Iowa  and  Indiana,  but  many  thousands  came  from 
Chicago  and  vicinity.  One  writer  states  that  "old  men  of  the 
War  of  1812,  with  their  old  wives,  their  children,  grand-chil- 
dren and  great  grand-children  were  there;  making  a  procession 
of  human  beings,  horses  and  carriages,  not  less  than  ten  miles 
in  length.  And  yet  the  procession  might  have  left  the  city  and 
the  people  would  scarcely  be  missed." 

In  addition  to  the  oratorical  feast  from  many  of  the  fore- 
most speakers  of  the  Nation,  a  man  from  the  East  gave  inspira- 
tion to  the  occasion  by  singing  a  song  entitled,  "The  Ship  of 
State,"  with  a  chorus,  beginning  "Our  Lincoln  is  the  Man." 
The  name  of  the  author  is  not  given.    It  runs  thus : 

"Hark,  hark,  a  signal  gun  is  heard, 
Just  out  beyond  the  fort; 
The  good  old  Ship  of  State,  my  boys, 
Is  coming  into  port. 

"With  shattered  sails  and  anchors  gone, 
I  fear  the  rogues  will  strand  her; 
She  carries  now  a  sorry  crew, 
And  needs  a  new  commander. 


The  Presidential  Campaign  105 

Chorus 
"Our  Lincoln  is  the  man, 
Our  Lincoln  is  the  man, 
With  a  sturdy  mate 
From  the  Pine-Tree  State, 
Our  Lincoln  is  the  man. 

"We  give  her  what  repairs  she  needs, 

A  thorough  overhauling, 
Her  sordid  crew  shall  be  dismissed 

To  seek  some  honest  calling. 
Brave  Lincoln  soon  shall  take  the  helm, 

On  truth  and  right  relying, 
In  calm  or  storm,  in  peace  or  war, 

He'll  keep  her  colors  flying. 

Chorus 
"Old  Abram  is  the  man, 
Old  Abram  is  the  man, 
With  a  sturdy  mate 
From  the  Pine-Tree  State, 
Old  Abram  is  the  man." 

This  was  sung  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  presence,  and  it  is  said  he 
enjoyed  it  very  much;  but  it  did  not  become  him,  considering 
his  position,  to  express  his  appreciation,  then  and  there,  of  the 
song.  However,  after  the  service  was  over  and  the  people  had 
dispersed,  he  sought  an  interview  with  the  singer  and  requested 
him  to  sing  it  to  him  in  his  private  office,  which  he  did  to  the 
great  delight  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

Miss  Tarbell,  in  her  fine  history  of  Lincoln,  states  that  in 
the  Republican  campaign  of  1860  there  was  one  distinguishing 
feature,  known  as  Wide-Awakes.    "These  were  bands  of  torch- 


106  Abraham  Lincoln 

bearers  who,  in  simple  uniforms  of  glazed  cap  and  cape,  and 
carrying  colored  lanterns  or  blazing  coal-oil  torches,  paraded 
the  streets."  Other  clubs  were  formed  in  most  of  the  cities  of 
the  United  States,  adopting  the  same  name,  "Wide-Awakes," 
"and  drilled  from  one  end  of  the  North  to  the  other."  The 
same  writer  remarks  that  "many  of  the  clubs  owned  Lincoln 
rails,  and  one  club,  the  Hartford  WideAwakes,  possessed  the 
identical  maul  with  which  Lincoln  had  split  the  rails  for  the 
famous  fence."  ("The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  Vol  1,  Page 
365.     The  Macmillan  Company,  N.  Y.,  Publishers.) 

These  scenes  and  reminders  of  Lincoln's  early  struggles 
produced  a  marked  effect  on  the  minds  of  the  people,  espe- 
cially of  the  rural  class,  many  of  whom  had  experienced  the 
same  hardships  in  their  pioneer  days.  This  occasioned  a  feel- 
ing of  kinship  between  the  people  and  the  great  Commoner. 
That  Mr.  Lincoln  should  have  a  large  following  from  such 
admirers  is  not  surprising. 

During  the  early  fall  campaign  it  became  apparent  that 
there  would  be  a  strong  reaction  in  the  pro-slavery  sentiment 
of  the  North  before  the  November  election.  While  many  Demo- 
crats were  disposed  to  tolerate  slavery  in  state  where  it  already 
existed,  they  strenuously  opposed  its  extension  in  Northern 
territories  and  states,  which  was  made  possible  under  the 
Douglas  folly  of  "Popular  Sovereignty." 

The  great  Republican  orators  had  so  fired  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  people  with  the  enormity  of  such  a  possibility 
that  it  became,  in  the  thought  of  many,  a  veritable  menace  to 
our  institutions,  of  which  democracy  must  take  cognizance.  This 
could  have  but  one  result,  the  alienation  of  Democratic  votes 
and  the  augmentation  of  Republican  strength.  This  was  more 
apparent  as  the  time  of  election  approached. 

Several  weeks  prior  to  the  November  election,  many  men 
who  had  kept  their  fingers  on  the  public  pulse  freely  predicted 


The  Presidential  Campaign  107 

the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  or  at  least  that  he  would  have  a 
large  plurality  vote  over  any  of  his  competitiors.  This  even 
would  be  a  great  compliment,  since  there  were  four  presiden- 
tial candidates  in  the  field:  Lincoln,  Douglas,  Breckinridge 
and  Bell.  However,  a  plurality  vote  does  not  always  mean  an 
election;  for  our  Federal  Constitution  provides  (Article  12, 
Section  1  that  "The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of 
votes  for  President  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  a  number 
be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed." 

Thus  we  see  that  a  plurality  vote  of  any  presidential  candi- 
date, if  less  than  a  majority  of  the  number  of  electors  appoint- 
ed, does  not  constitute  an  election.  Granted  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
would  have  a  large  plurality  vote,  as  above  indicated,  the 
supreme  question  was,  would  he  have,  or  no,  a  majority  of 
the  number  of  electors  appointed? 

The  presidential  election  of  November  6,  1860,  was  peculiar 
and  quite  exceptional  to  any  previous  national  election  of 
which  I  have  any  knowledge.  Fifteen  states  gave  Mr.  Lincoln 
no  electoral  votes,  and  it  is  stated  that  "in  ten  states  he  had 
not  received  a  single  popular  vote."  No  Northern  presidential 
candidate  had  ever  before  been  thus  treated.  But  let  us  not 
despair!  "Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast,"  as  we 
know.  There  were  303  electoral  votes  that  year,  and  the  suc- 
cessful candidate  must  have  one-half,  plus  one,  (152^)  to  be 
elected.  When  the  canvass  of  votes  was  made  and  the  result 
announced,  Mr.  Lincoln  (all  hail)  had  received  180  of  the 
electoral  votes.  Don't  you  think  there  was  rejoicing  in  Heaven, 
among  the  angels,  that  day,  as  well  as  in  most  of  the  Northern 
homes?  Of  the  popular  vote  he  had  received  only  1,866,452, 
but  this  was  1,250,000  over  Bell,  1,000,000  over  Breckinridge, 
and  nearly  500,000  over  Douglas.  Enough  said.  This  was 
"glory  enough  for  one  day." 

On  the  day  of  election,  November  6,  Mr.  Lincoln,  it  is  said, 


108  Abraham  Lincoln 

was  calm  and  sure  of  the  result.  The  news  at  first  received, 
mostly  from  New  York,  was  not  favorable  and  created  a  little 
apprehension.  Later  the  tide  was  turned  and  he  soon  learned 
of  his  election.  One  writer  states  that  on  receipt  of  the  news, 
Mr.  Lincoln's  "heart  overflowed  with  thanksgiving  to  God  for 
His  providential  goodness  to  our  beloved  country."  Mr.  Lin- 
coln continued:  "I  cannot  conceal  the  fact  that  I  am  a  very 
happy  man,  and  added,  with  much  feeling,  "who  could  help 
being  so  under  such  circumstances?" 

It  is  said  that  at  a  late  hour  he  went  home  to  break  the 
good  news  to  his  wife,  remarking  as  he  started  that  there  was 
a  "little  woman  there  who  would  like  to  hear  the  news." 

The  members  of  the  club  who  were  entertaining  him  and 
watching  the  dispatches  that  night  gave  him  three  rousing 
cheers  when  he  left.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  advised  his  wife  that 
night  to  retire  early  and  not  awatf  his  return,  as  the  hour  of 
his  arrival  might  be  late.  He  says:  "On  my  arrival  I  went  to 
my  bedroom  and  found  my  wife  sound  asleep.  I  gently  touched 
her  shoulder  and  said,  'Mary';  she  made  no  answer.  I  spoke 
again  a  little  louder,  saying,  'Mary,  Mary,  we  are  elected.'  r 
He  further  states  that  he  "then  went  to  bed;  but  before  sleeping, 
he  had  selected  every  member  of  his  cabinet,  save  one."  ("Tri- 
butes from  His  Associates,"  Henry  C.  Bowen.  Thomas  Y. 
Crowell  Company,  New  York,  Publishers.) 

As  is  customary  in  such  cases,  he  chose  the  next  most 
prominent  candidate  for  President  in  the  national  convention, 
Governor  William  H.  Seward,  for  his  Secretary  of  State.  He 
also  selected  Salmon  P.  Chase  of  Ohio,  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, and  Simon  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania  as  his  Secretary  of 
War.  These  two  had  also  been  rivals  of  his  for  the  presiden- 
tial nomination.  Mr.  Lincoln  desired  that  all  his  competitors 
should  have  a  place  in  his  Cabinet  "in  order  to  create  har- 
mony in  the  party."    Gideon  Wells  was  selected  as  Secretary 


The  Presidential  Campaign  109 

of  the  Navy,  Montgomery  Blair  as  Postmaster-General,  Edward 
Bates  as  Attorney-General,  and  Caleb  B.  Smith  as  Secretary  of 
the  Interior.  These  were  the  names  of  the  seven  members  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  as  confirmed  by  the  Senate  four  months 
afterwards.  But  the  record  does  not  tell  which  one  was  omitted 
in  his  first  night's  selection. 

Mr.  Lincoln  desired  Governor  Seward  as  his  Secretary  of 
State  in  consequence  of  his  distinguished  ability  and  eminence 
as  a  statesman.  Also,  he  regarded  the  Governor  as  "a  good  rep- 
resentative of  the  progressive,  anti-slavery  element  of  the 
party."  It  is  further  said  that  he  desired  "a  Republican,  not 
a  Whig  administration,  and  therefore  acquired  and  formed  a 
Republican  Cabinet."  The  time  intervening  between  the  date 
of  his  election  and  that  of  his  inauguration  was  a  period  of 
intense  anxiety  and  solicitude.  Many  statesmen  in  the  South 
had  declared  in  advance  of  the  election  that  if  Mr.  Lincoln 
were  elected,  they  would  proceed  to  form  a  "Southern  Con- 
federacy." There  was  no  just  cause  for  alarm  in  the  South, 
for  Lincoln  had  never  uttered  a  word  either  in  public  or  pri- 
vate that  would  in  any  way  interfere  with  their  pet  institution 
of  slavery  in  states  where  it  already  existed.  To  be  sure,  he 
had  opposed  its  further  aggression  and  extension  into  Northern 
territories  and  states,  as  had  thousands  of  Northern  Democrats 
as  well.  But  no  thought  of  invading  the  South  and  interfering 
with  their  laws  and  institutions.  The  people  of  the  South  had 
thought  and  talked  for  decades  of  a  separation  from  the  North, 
and  doubtless  thought  this  to  be  a  most  propitious  time  to  put 
their  threats  into  execution.  Four  days  after  the  election,  the 
United  States  Senator  from  South  Carolina  resigned.  This 
incident  was  not  surprising.  Indeed  it  was  to  be  anticipated; 
for  be  it  remembered  that  this  state  had  been  the  hot-bed  of 
secession  for  nearly  thirty  years  before. 

The  student  of  history  will  recall  that  in  1833  South  Caro- 


110  Abraham  Lincoln 

lina,  under  the  leadership  of  U.  S.  Senator  John  C.  Calhoun, 
undertook  to  nullify  the  tariff  law,  enacted  by  Congress,  which 
imposed  a  light  tariff  on  certain  importations  not  favorable  to 
Southern  states.  The  Legislature  of  the  State  passed  a  resolu- 
tion that  any  state  might  annul  any  act  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. This  resolution  was  considered  tantamount  to  a  threat- 
ened dissolution  of  the  Union. 

Years  thereafter,  Senator  Calhoun  delivered  his  famous 
address  on  slavery,  maintaining  that  the  interests  of  the  South 
would  be  best  served  by  a  dissolution  of  the  Union;  and,  sur- 
prising to  say,  he  continued  by  voice  and  pen,  during  the  per- 
iod of  his  life  to  urge  the  wisdom  of  such  a  measure,  which 
was  secession,  pure  and  simple.  I  have  enlarged  on  this  (per- 
haps unduly  so)  to  show  that  South  Carolina  was  right  in  its 
elements  when  it  made  the  first  move  to  secede.  During  the 
winter  months  of  '60  and  '61  many  Southern  states  met  and 
passed  ordinances  of  secession,  which  were  sources  of  unutter- 
able distress  to  Mr.  Lincoln;  but  he  was  powerless  to  prevent 
their  treasonable  procedure. 

In  the  month  of  February,  representatives  of  the  Southern 
states,  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  united  in  a  general  conven- 
tion to  perfect  their  ordinance  and  give  birth  to  a  nation  that 
they  christened  as  "The  Confederate  States  of  America,"  gen- 
erally known  as  "The  Southern  Confederacy."  In  this  con- 
vention, they  adopted  their  Constitution  and  provided  for 
certain  offices,  made  necessary  to  properly  function  their  newly 
formed  government. 

When  the  people  of  the  North  saw  this  disintegration, 
incident  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  grave  problems 
confronting  them,  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  were  filled  with 
alarm  and  dismay.  Some  Northern  papers  favored  a  com- 
promise, while  others  demanded  coercion.  The  most  prominent 
of  the  former  class  was  the  New  York  Tribune,  wherein  Horace 


The  Presidential  Campaign  111 

Greeley  proclaimed  that  "we  should  permit  the  erring  sisters 
to  depart."  The  New  York  Herald  was  of  the  opinion  that  the 
President-elect  should  do  something  to  compromise  the  South 
and  thus  prevent  secession. 

We  had  at  the  time,  a  weak  and  vascillating  man  in  the 
Presidential  chair,  by  the  name  of  James  Buchanan.  He 
assumed  an  attitude  towards  the  South  of  conciliation,  verging 
on  approval.  He  maintained  that  the  Constitution  gave  him, 
as  President,  no  power  to  coerce  a  seceding  State.  That  was 
just  what  the  so-called  Confederates  wanted.  Mr.  Lincoln 
thought  otherwise,  which  we  will  be  able  to  show. 


CHAPTER  V. 
Gathering  Clouds 

During  the  months  preceding  the  inauguration,  Spring- 
field became  the  storm  center  for  politicians  and  other 
aspirants  who  sought  from  Mr.  Lincoln  a  promise  for 
appointments  to  various  positions  which  would  soon  be  at  his 
disposal. 

Way  back  in  the  days  of  President  Jackson,  a  precedent 
was  established  that  "to  the  victors  belonged  the  spoils"  and 
the  same  slogan  was  maintained  by  succeeding  Presidents  up 
to  the  date  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  election.  Politicians  thought  there 
should  be  no  exception  with  the  new  administration;  and  so 
they  came  by  hundreds  from  northern  and  border  states  to 
demand  recognition  from  the  President-elect.  They  requested 
appointments  to  various  lucrative  and  honorable  positions,  both 
domestic  and  foreign,  and  all  within  the  gift  or  bestowal  of 
the  executive.  They  doubtless  thought  and  tried  to  convince 
him  that  his  election  in  the  states  they  represented  was  largely 
due  to  the  effective  service  they  were  able  to  render  him  during 
the  previous  campaign.  These  deputations  of  office  seekers  and 
place  hunters  from  some  states  came  not  only  often,  but  in 
large  numbers. 

Candidates  for  Cabinet  appointments  gave  him  no  little 
inconvenience  and  trouble.  There  was  some  rivalry  and  strug- 
gle between  the  states  of  Indiana  and  Illinois  along  lines  that 
became  quite  embarrassing  to  Mr.  Lincoln. 

There  was  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  President-elect 
to  make  a  just  and  honorable  allotment  of  these  and  other 
appointments  among  the  Northern  and  border  states;  but  the 
candidates  from  his  own  state,  many  of  whom  were  his  per- 


Gathering  Clouds  113 

sonal  friends,  were  so  insistent  in  their  demands  as  to  make  it 
very  perplexing  to  Lincoln.  His  unfailing  good  humor  and 
good  judgment,  however,  served  him  well  in  this  emergency; 
for  the  official  appointees,  as  finally  announced,  were  consid- 
ered by  the  masses  as  the  very  best  that  could  be  made  under 
the  circumstances.  They  were  men,  in  most  instances,  of  rare 
ability  and  experience  in  statecraft;  and  best  of  all,  they 
worked  in  strict  harmony  with  the  new  administration  in  all 
the  perplexing  problems  with  which  they  were  soon  confronted. 

Meanwhile,  a  war  cloud,  not  larger  perhaps  than  a  man's 
hand,  made  its  appearance.  Hostilities  in  many  places  in  the 
North  had  arisen.  A  peace  congress  had  convened  at  the 
National  Capitol  to  discuss  measures  to  avert  the  possibility 
of  war. 

Similar  meetings  were  held  in  many  cities  of  the  North, 
of  groups  desirous  of  doing  everything  reasonable  to  pacify 
the  South,  but  to  no  avail. 

James  Buchanan,  the  weak  old  man,  was  either  unable  or 
unwilling,  perhaps  both,  to  control  the  treasonable,  rebellious 
acts  of  his  Cabinet,  the  members  of  which  were  mostly  South- 
ern men  or  Southern  sympathizers.  This  made  it  easier  for 
the  South  to  mobilize  their  forces  and  strike  the  fateful  blow, 
precipitating  the  rebellion,  when  the  opportune  moment  should 
arrive. 

John  B.  Floyd,  then  Secretary  of  War,  a  Southern  man, 
proceeded  to  move  the  army  to  different  sections  of  the  South, 
so  it  could  not  be  available  for  the  protection  of  the  Capital 
when  the  anticipated  emergency  should  arise.  In  like  man- 
ner, he  moved  the  arms  and  munitions  of  war  from  Northern 
forts  and  arsenals  to  those  of  Southern  states.  It  is  also  re- 
corded that  Isaac  Toucy,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  a  Northern 
man,  but  influenced  by  Southern  conspirators,  sent  our  men 
of  war  and  other  naval  forces  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe 


114  Abraham  Lincoln 

so  as  to  further  weaken  the  defense  of  the  North  in  its  hour 
of  supreme  need.  Howell  Cobb  of  Georgia  was  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury.  He  soon  became  a  rank  secessionist  and  par- 
ticipated as  general  in  the  Southern  rebellion.  He  had  so 
conducted  the  finances  of  the  country  as  to  leave  the  treasury 
bankrupt  when  he  resigned.  These  were  the  dire,  appalling 
conditions  that  confronted  the  new  administration  when  the 
noble  Lincoln  took  command. 

To  further  complicate  matters,  if  not  to  add  insult  to  in- 
jury, Attorney-General  Black  had  given  his  official  opinion  that 
"Neither  Congress  nor  the  President  could  carry  on  any  war 
against  any  state."  As  much  as  to  say  that  the  U.  S.  Constitu- 
tion did  not  invest  the  President  with  any  power  to  coerce  any 
state  that  had  withdrawn  from  the  Union.  How  fortunate  for 
our  once  distracted  but  now  united  and  happy  country  that 
our  new  President  and  Cabinet  placed  a  different  construction 
and  interpretation  on  our  great  Federal  Constitution.  It  should 
be  further  added  that  while  members  of  the  old  Cabinet  were 
carrying  out  their  acts  of  conspiracy  against  the  government 
they  had  sworn  to  protect,  the  members  of  Congress  from  the 
South,  both  in  the  House  and  Senate,  occupied  their  seats, 
drew  their  pay  to  the  last,  holding  possession  of  the  govern- 
ment, "but  plotting  at  the  same  time  to  overthrow  it." 

It  is  quite  fortunate,  and  reassuring  as  well,  that  not  all  the 
members  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Cabinet  were  rebels  at  heart  or 
Southern  sympathizers.  General  Lewis  Cass,  a  Northern  man, 
was  Secretary  of  State.  He  saw  the  storm  was  brewing  and 
the  country  in  imminent  peril.  He  advised  the  President  to 
send  reinforcements  at  once  to  Major  Anderson  who  was  in 
command,  with  a  small  force,  at  Fort  Moultrie,  Charleston 
Harbor.    He  declined,  and  General  Cass  peremptorily  resigned. 

Attorney-General  Black,  who  had  given  the  President  such 
an  unwise  and  erroneous  interpretation  of  the  Constitution  as 


Gathering  Clouds  115 

effecting  the  coercion  of  seceding  states,  also  resigned.  He, 
doubtless,  saw  his  position  would  precipitate  a  rebellion,  en- 
tailing the  horrors  of  war,  and  early  withdrew  to  avoid  added 
responsibility. 

Edwin  M.  Stanton  of  Ohio,  a  staunch  Union  man,  suc- 
ceeded Black  as  Attorney-General.  When  Jacob  Thompson, 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  a  Confederate  at  heart,  advised  the 
President  to  surrender  the  forts  in  Charleston  Harbor,  and 
to  withdraw  Major  Anderson  and  his  loyal  force,  Secretary 
Stanton  addressed  the  President  as  follows:  "Mr.  President, 
it  is  my  duty  as  your  legal  advisor  to  say  that  you  have  no 
right  to  give  up  the  property  of  the  government  or  abandon 
the  soldiers  of  the  United  States  to  its  enemies;  and  the  course 
proposed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  if  followed,  is 
treason,  and  will  involve  you  and  all  concerned  in  treason." 
("Abraham  Lincoln  and  the  Downfall  of  Slavery,"  Noah 
Brooks,  Page  213.  Courtesy  of  G.  P.  Putnams  Sons,  Publish- 
ers, New  York  and  London.) 

This  lion-hearted  man,  Stanton,  had  no  hesitancy  in  char- 
acterizing the  advise  of  Secretary  Thompson  as  treasonable, 
though  it  was  the  first  time  perhaps  that  the  word  "treason" 
had  been  mentioned  by  any  member  of  Buchanan's  Cabinet. 
General  John  A.  Dix  was  appointed  the  successor  of  Howell 
Cobb  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  was  from  New  York 
and  loyal  to  the  core  as  a  Union  man.  One  of  our  revenue 
cutters  was  in  peril  from  Southern  forces,  and  General  Dix 
sent  to  its  commander,  possibly  in  spite  of  President  Buchan- 
an's protest,  the  now  famous  dispatch:  "If  any  man  attempts 
to  haul  down  the  American  flag,  shoot  him  on  the  spot."  The 
Union  cause  was  also  strengthened  by  the  appointment  of 
Joseph  Holt  of  Kentucky,  a  loyal  man,  as  Secretary  of  War. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Floyd,  his  predecessor,  had  neutral- 
ized, if  not  destroyed,  the  efficiency  of  the  United  States  army 


116  Abraham  Lincoln 

by  sending  it  largely  to  Southern  forts.  The  new  war  secretary 
was  quite  efficient  in  mobilizing  and  strengthening  the  remain- 
ing forces  and  having  them  ready  and  equipped  for  the  new 
administration. 

From  December  20,  1860,  to  February  1,  1861,  a  period 
of  about  six  weeks,  seven  Southern  states  convened  and  passed 
ordinances  of  secession.  The  enactment  of  the  ordinances  and 
the  dates  thereof  were  in  the  order  following: 

South  Carolina,  December  20,  1860;  Mississippi,  January 
9,  1861;  Florida,  January  10,  1861;  Alabama,  January  11, 
1861;  Georgia,  January  18,  1861;  Louisiana,  January  26, 
1861;  and  Texas,  February  1,  1861.  The  other  four  states 
seceding  postponed  their  conventions  and  the  enactment  of 
their  ordinances  of  secession  till  after  the  inauguration  of 
Mr.  Lincoln. 

The  withdrawal  of  South  Carolina  from  the  Union  was 
accomplished  without  delay  and  with  marked  unanimity.  But 
in  many  other  states  much  opposition  was  developed.  This 
was  especially  true  in  the  state  of  Georgia,  where  one-third  or 
more  of  the  people  were  loyal  to  the  old  flag,  and  bitterly 
opposed  to  secession. 

This  opposition  was  sponsored  by  many  men  of  note,  the 
most  distinguished  of  whom  was  Alexander  H.  Stephens.  He 
was  a  brilliant  orator  and  an  ex-member  of  Congress.  He  was 
in  the  same  Congress  of  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  member  in 
1847.  They  were  both  Whigs  and  remained  warm  friends  up 
to  and  including  the  months  just  preceding  rebellion.  Indeed, 
I  think  they  remained  friends,  sub  rosa,  during  all  the  dark 
years  of  the  war. 

In  the  Georgia  convention  that  passed  the  ordinance  of 
secession,  Mr.  Stephens  made  the  speech  of  his  life,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  ordinance.  One  writer  says  that  "Alexander  H. 
Stephens  spoke  for  the  Union  with  a  warmth  and  logic  not 


Gathering  Clouds  117 

surpassed  by  anything  that  was  said  at  the  North."  ("Abraham 
Lincoln,"  John  T.  Morse,  Vol.  1,  Page  184.  Houghton  Mifflin 
Co.,  Boston.)  I  recall  from  memory  a  part  of  the  great  speech 
he  delivered  on  that  occasion,  though  it  has  been  perhaps  60 
years  or  longer  since  I  read  it.  He  recited  in  part  that  there 
was  no  just  cause  or  occasion  for  the  South  to  secede  from  the 
Union;  that  the  South  had  furnished  a  fair  proportion  of  the 
Presidents  of  the  United  States,  including  Washington,  Jeffer- 
son, Madison,  Monroe,  Jackson ;  now  that  the  North  had  elected 
a  Republican  President,  with  no  threat  of  interfering  with 
slavery,  there  should  be  no  reason  for  pursuing  the  course  the 
South  had  adopted,  involving  as  it  would  the  dissolution  of 
the  Union  and  the  precipitation  of  a  war.  His  eloquent  appeal 
had  but  litle  effect. 

Robert  Tooms,  an  able  statesman  and  a  member  of  the 
United  States  Senate,  together  with  General  Cobb  and  Iverson, 
favored  the  dismemberment  of  the  state  and  thus  carried  the 
day.  The  ensuing  vote  disclosed  the  fact  that  208  favored  the 
seceding  ordinance  and  89  opposed  it. 

What  powerful  influence  was  brought  to  bear  on  the  mind 
of  the  loyal  Stephens,  afterwards,  to  change  his  convictions 
and  accept  the  position  of  Vice-President  of  the  Confederacy 
will  never  be  known,  probably.  It  was  thought  by  many,  and 
I  think  Mr.  Lincoln  shared  the  belief,  that  Stephens  was  rather 
luke-warm  in  his  support  of  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  measures, 
during  the  period  of  his  incumbency.  He  evidently  had  but 
few  regrets  at  the  surrender  of  General  Lee  and  the  collapse 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  He  hailed  with  secret  joy  the 
returning  supremacy  of  the  Federal  Constitution  and  all  that 
it  implied.  In  '74  he  was  again  elected  to  Congress  where  he 
remained  eight  years,  being  held  in  high  esteem  by  his  col- 
leagues and  friends,  and  was  loyal  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
Republic. 


118  Abraham  Lincoln 

Texas  did  not  have  clear  sailing  in  its  advocacy  of  seces- 
sion. The  measure  was  opposed  by  the  Governor  of  the  state, 
Samuel  Houston,  with  all  the  influence  and  power  he  could 
command.  It  will  be  recalled  that  in  1836  he  conquered  the 
Mexicans  at  San  Jacinto  and  secured  the  independence  of 
Texas,  of  which  republic  he  was  elected  President.  Nine  years 
after,  when  Texas  came  into  the  Union,  he  was  elected  its 
Senator;  and  now  in  '61  he  was  its  great  Governor.  He  could 
properly  be  called  the  "father"  of  that  great  state.  He  mar- 
shalled his  forces  in  opposition  to  the  prevailing  disunion 
sentiment  of  the  state,  but  to  no  avail. 

It  is  said  that  at  the  opening  of  the  war,  in  a  remarkable 
speech,  he  described  the  development  of  the  impending  con- 
flict; but  the  pro-war  enthusiasm  and  sentiment  neutralized  his 
great  influence  and  hastened  an  early  adoption  of  the  ordi- 
nance. The  life  of  Governor  Houston  was  even  threatened  by 
assassination.  It  is  said  that  Senator  Iverson  of  Georgia  re- 
marked that  "some  Texan  Brutus  may  arise  to  rid  his  country 
of  this  old  hoary-headed  traitor."  I  merely  write  this  to  show 
that  the  course  of  true  love  for  the  Confederacy  did  not  run 
smooth  in  the  sunny  South. 

The  states  adopting  ordinances  of  secession  subsequent  to 
Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration  are  as  follows:  Virginia,  April  17, 
1861;  North  Carolina,  May  20,  1861;  Arkansas  first  defeated 
its  ordinance  of  secession,  but  afterward,  in  May,  1861,  adopted 
the  measure;  Tennessee  defeated  its  first  ordinance  in  Janu- 
ary, 1861,  but  in  June  following  passed  the  measure  by  over 
57,000.  I  mention  these  historic  events  for  the  benefit,  mainly, 
of  my  young  readers  who  may  desire  them  for  future  reference. 

The  question  was  often  asked  as  to  the  cause  that  led  the 
South  to  secede.  Mr.  Lincoln's  election  was  a  mere  pretense. 
It  may  have  been  the  occasion,  but  certainly  not  the  cause  of 
secession.     Nothing  had  been  said  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  either  in 


Gathering  Clouds  119 

public  or  private;  no  action  had  been  taken  by  any  Republican 
convention,  state  or  national,  that  would  lead  the  South  to 
believe  that  their  institution  of  slavery  would  be  imperiled  by 
the  possible  election  of  the  Republican  candidate.  To  be  sure, 
Mr.  Lincoln,  in  his  great  debates  with  Judge  Douglas  two 
years  before,  had  many  times  stated  that  the  government 
should  resist  the  further  extension  of  slavery  in  newly  ac- 
quired territory,  with  all  the  power  at  its  command;  but  at 
the  same  time  announced  that  slavery  should  not  be  interfered 
with  in  states  where  it  already  existed.  The  South  could  not 
possibly  be  deceived  as  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  attitude  on  this  ab- 
sorbing question. 

What  then  was  the  predisposing  cause  of  secession? 

In  my  judgment,  it  dated  back  to  the  nullification  act  of 
South  Carolina,  under  the  leadership  of  Senator  John  C.  Cal- 
houn, wherein  it  was  declared  that  any  state  had  a  right  to 
withdraw  from  the  Union  whenever  its  best  interests  would  be 
served  thereby.  For  this  act,  General  Jackson,  then  President, 
expressed  his  regrets  later,  that  he  had  not  tried  Calhoun  for 
treason,  and  if  found  guilty,  hang  him  as  high  as  Haman. 

During  the  thirty  years  following,  up  to  the  time  of  the 
rebellion,  the  seeds  of  disunion  had  been  sown  broadcast 
throughout  the  states  of  the  South,  and  the  people  were  only 
waiting,  impatiently  waiting,  under  the  leadership  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  Bob  Tooms,  Mason  Sidel  and  others,  for  an  opportune 
moment  to  strike.  Lincoln's  election  afforded  this  opportunity, 
a  sham  pretext  though  it  was. 

It  was  evidently  the  purpose  of  these  and  other  Southern 
leaders  to  establish  a  slave-holding  Republic  or  nationality  in 
the  South,  of  which  they  would  be  the  leaders.  They  also 
cherished  the  conviction  that  the  institution  of  slavery  could 
be  sustained  and  perpetuated  better  by  being  separated  from 
the  North,  and  thus  would  be  free  from  the  enduring  hostility 


120  Abraham  Lincoln 

that  would  be  theirs  while  remaining  in  the  Federal  Union. 
For  these  "inalienable  rights"  they  were  willing  to  fight  "and 
shed  their  last  drop  of  blood,"  if  necessary. 

They  sought  and  secured  an  early  opportunity  to  put  their 
threats  into  execution.  Major  Anderson  with  a  small  detach- 
ment of  United  States  troops  was  then  in  command  at  Fort 
Sumter,  in  Charleston  Harbor.  This  was  one  of  the  few  forts 
where  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  still  flying.  Early  in  Janu- 
ary, '61,  the  President  was  persuaded  to  send  men  and  supplies 
to  Major  Anderson  by  the  merchant  steamer  "Star  of  the 
West."  But  the  citizens  of  Charleston  intercepted  and  fired 
upon  the  steamer  and  compelled  her  to  return.  This  was 
probably  the  first  overt  act  of  the  impending  conflict  on  the 
part  of  the  South. 

The  news  of  Southern  states  seceding  in  rapid  succession 
and  the  subsequent  information  of  the  rebel  attack  on  a  Gov- 
ernment transport  must  have  been  painful  to  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
the  extreme;  but  he  was  powerless  to  prevent  it. 

Many  Union  men  of  the  North,  especially  those  near  the 
heart  of  the  President-elect,  besought  him  to  do  something  that 
would  be  reassuring  to  the  South  and  thus  prevent  further 
resistance  to  the  constituted  authority  of  the  Government.  But 
he  declined,  not  wishing  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  ad- 
ministration of  his  predecessor.  He  knew  very  well  that  his 
advice  would  not  be  appreciated,  much  less  entertained,  and 
that  more  than  words  and  attempted  compromise  were  neces- 
sary to  save  the  situation. 

Early  in  February,  he  made  arrangements  for  his  departure 
to  Washington.  Before  doing  so,  however,  he  decided  to  visit 
his  step-mother,  whom  he  dearly  loved  and  whom  he  had  not 
seen  for  many  years.  Her  home  was  at  Farmington,  Coles 
County,  about  100  miles  southeast  from  Springfield.  Thither 
he  hastened,  but  stopped  first  to  visit  his  cousin,  Dennis  Hanks, 


Gathering  Clouds  121 

near  Charleston,  in  the  same  county.  That  night  a  number  of 
former  neighbors  and  friends  gathered  at  the  humble  home  of 
Mr.  Hanks  to  meet  and  greet  their  former  friend  and  young 
associate.  He  was  known  then  simply  as  "Abe  Lincoln,  the 
rail  splitter."  But  now  he  had  become  the  "first  citizen"  of 
America,  the  President  of  the  United  States.  They  felt  proud 
of  his  wonderful  successes  and  high  attainments ;  while  he  very 
much  enjoyed  the  sweet  companionship  of  his  old-time,  boy- 
hood friends. 

However,  his  affections  were  centered  in  the  heart  and  home 
of  the  dear  one  he  called  mother,  so  in  the  early  morning, 
seated  in  a  carriage  drawn  by  two  spirited  horses  and  accom- 
panied by  a  friend,  he  set  off  for  the  Farmington  home.  They 
found  some  difficulty  in  crossing  dangerous  streams,  much 
swollen  by  melting  snow,  that  season  of  the  year;  but  eventu- 
ally they  arrived  in  safety  at  their  destination. 

The  meeting  of  mother  and  son  was  of  a  very  tender  and 
affectionate  character.  The  mother  warmly  embraced  her  son, 
while  he  in  turn  planted  kisses  on  her  furrowed  cheeks  and 
brow.  They,  doubtless,  spent  the  day  in  reviewing  the  events 
of  the  long  ago,  when  she,  as  Sally  Bush  Johnson,  left  Ken- 
tucky to  repair  the  broken  home  of  Thomas  Lincoln  in  his 
Indiana  cabin.  Little  Abe  and  his  sister  Sarah  had  been 
tender  in  years  then;  but  they  were  as  affectionately  cared  for 
and  reared  by  the  new  mother  as  they  would  have  been  had 
their  own  mother  survived. 

At  the  time  of  this  visit,  Mrs.  Thomas  Lincoln  was  living 
with  one  of  her  daughters.  It  will  be  remembered  that  when, 
about  forty  years  before,  Sally  Bush  Johnson  married  Thos. 
Lincoln,  she  brought  with  her  to  the  new  home  a  son  and  two 
daughters;  and  now  by  one  of  the  daughters,  in  her  old  age, 
she  was  being  tenderly  cared  for.  It  will  also  be  recalled  that 
some  twenty-five  years  prior  to  this  visit,  Mr.  Lincoln,  then  a 


122  Abraham  Lincoln 

young  attorney,  took  $500  in  gold  to  his  step-mother,  and  with 
it,  purchased  for  her  160  acres  of  land.  From  the  proceeds 
of  this  farm  she,  doubtless,  had  obtained  a  comfortable  living 
all  these  intervening  years.  The  parting  time,  in  this  last 
visit  between  the  two,  was  sad  and  touching.  As  she  em- 
braced and  bade  him  farwell,  she  expressed  a  conviction  that 
she  would  never  see  him  again,  for  said  she,  "Your  enemies 
may  assassinate  you."  Mr.  Lincoln  replied,  "No,  no,  mother; 
they  will  not  do  that.  Trust  in  the  Lord  and  all  will  be  well; 
we  will  see  each  other  again." 

How  true  it  is  that  "Man  proposes,  but  God  disposes." 
The  assassin's  bullet  did  its  fatal  work,  and  Lincoln  never 
visited  his  step-mother  again.  Someone  has  said  that  we  de- 
termine our  plans  and  enter  upon  our  life  work  with  joyful 
anticipations  of  the  unfolding  pleasures  of  future  years,  when 
in  a  short  time  our  lives  are  required  of  us,  and  we  fade  away 
into  the  nothingness  of  death. 

After  leaving  his  mother's  home,  Mr.  Lincoln  with  his 
companion  drove  to  the  old  Lincoln  homestead  where,  thirty 
years  before,  he  had  assisted  his  father  in  the  carving  out  and 
developing  of  a  farm  from  the  primeval  forest,  and  where  he 
split  the  celebrated  rails  that  gave  him  notoriety  and  con- 
tributed to  his  political  success.  Thence  he  went  to  the  old 
cemetery  where  the  remains  of  Thomas  Lincoln,  his  worthy 
father,  reposed.  He  found  the  place  quite  dilapidated,  and 
the  grave  unmarked.  He  expressed  a  desire  to  have  it  enclosed 
and  a  tombstone  erected,  marking  his  last  resting  place;  but 
whether  this  was  done  during  the  life  of  the  President,  the 
historian  does  not  record.  Shortly  after  Lincoln's  return  to 
Springfield,  he  started  with  his  family,  wife  and  three  sons,  on 
his  long  journey  to  Washington.  A  few  of  his  personal  friends 
knowing  the  time  of  his  departure  assembled  at  the  station  to 
shake  hands  and  bid  adieu,  for  what  proved  to  be  the  last 


Gathering  Clouds  123 

time,  with  their  distinguished  citizen.  From  the  rear  platform 
of  his  train,  he  delivered  to  them  a  short  but  pathetic  fare- 
well, saying: 

"My  friends,  no  one  not  in  my  position  can  appreciate  the 
sadness  I  feel  at  this  parting.  To  this  people,  I  owe  all  that  I 
am.  Here  I  have  lived  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
Here  my  children  were  born,  and  here  one  of  them  lies  buried. 
I  know  not  how  soon  I  shall  see  you  again.  A  duty  devolves 
upon  me  which  is,  perhaps,  greater  than  that  which  has  de- 
volved on  any  other  man  since  the  days  of  Washington.  He 
would  never  have  succeeded  except  by  the  aid  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, upon  which  he  at  all  times  relied.  I  feel  that  I  cannot 
succeed  without  the  same  Divine  aid  which  sustained  him; 
and  in  the  same  Almighty  being  I  place  my  reliance  for  sup- 
port; and  I  hope  you,  my  friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may 
receive  that  Divine  assistance,  without  which  I  cannot  succeed, 
but  with  which  success  is  certain.  Again  I  bid  you  all  an 
affectionate  farewell." 

I  quote  from  Henry  Villard,  who  accompanied  the  presi- 
dential party,  and  at  whose  request  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  it  out 
shortly  after  leaving  the  station.  On  their  way  to  the  National 
Capital,  in  most  of  the  cities  and  towns  the  people  turned  out 
in  large  numbers  to  see  the  President  and  pay  him  their  re- 
spects. In  several  of  the  cities,  where  the  stop  was  sufficiently 
long,  he  made  short  addresses. 

At  Tolono,  he  spoke  briefly  as  follows:  "I  am  leaving  you 
on  an  errand  of  national  importance,  attended,  as  you  are 
aware,  with  considerable  difficulties.  Let  us  believe,  as  some 
poet  has  expressed  it:  'Behind  the  cloud  the  sun  is  still  shin- 
ing.'    I  bid  you  an  affectionate  farewell." 

At  Indianapolis,  it  is  said,  the  whole  city  turned  out  to  do 
him  honor.  Having  been  escorted  to  the  Bates  House,  he  spoke 
from  the  balcony,  as  follows:  "To  the  salvation  of  the  Union 


124  Abraham  Lincoln 

there  needs  but  one  thing,  the  hearts  of  a  people  like  yours. 
Of  the  people,  when  they  rise  in  mass  in  behalf  of  the  Union 
and  the  liberties  of  their  country,  truly  may  it  be  said:  'The 
gates  of  hell  cannot  prevail  against  them.'  "  ("The  Children's 
Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  by  M.  Louise  Putnam,  page  112.) 

Thence  his  train  took  him  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  received 
a  great  ovation.  The  party  remained  in  the  city  over  night 
and  next  morning  started  for  Columbus,  the  capital  of  the 
state.  The  legislature  being  in  session,  he  was  invited  to  ad- 
dress their  body,  which  he  did,  speaking  as  follows:  "There 
has  fallen  on  me  a  task  such  as  did  not  rest  even  upon  the 
father  of  his  country;  and  so  feeling,  I  cannot  but  turn  and 
look  for  the  support  without  which  it  will  be  impossible  for 
me  to  perform  that  great  task.  I  turn,  then,  and  look  to  the 
great  American  people,  and  to  that  God  who  has  never  forsaken 
them."    Thus  Miss  Putnam  records  it. 

They  tarried  in  Columbus  that  night  and  next  day  traveled 
to  Pittsburgh,  arriving  there  in  the  evening.  Here,  as  else- 
where, he  was  met  by  a  large  company  of  admirers.  The  party 
rested  there  that  night,  and  in  the  morning  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
waited  upon  by  the  Mayor  and  City  Council ;  and  after  receiv- 
ing from  them  an  address  of  welcome,  he  replied  as  follows, 
speaking  briefly  on  the  tariff:  "The  tariff  is  a  question  of 
national  housekeeping.  It  is  to  the  government  what  replen- 
ishing the  meal  tub  is  to  the  family." 

Their  next  principal  stop  was  at  Cleveland.  The  citizens 
here  gave  him  an  enthusiastic  reception  and  welcomed  his  com- 
ing by  the  roar  of  cannon.  Mr.  Lincoln  addressed  the  large 
gathering  and  closed  his  remarks  by  saying:  "If  all  do  not 
join  now  to  save  the  good  old  ship  of  the  Union  on  this  voyage, 
nobody  will  have  a  chance  to  pilot  her  on  another  voyage." 
For  the  above  quotations,  I  am  under  obligation  to  M.  Louise 
Putnam,  the  noted  Lincoln  writer. 


Gathering  Clouds  125 

The  next  morning  Mr.  Lincoln  and  party  started  for  Buf- 
falo, where  they  spent  the  Sabbath  and  enjoyed  a  much  needed 
rest.  They  had  been  on  the  train  since  the  previous  Monday 
morning  and  were  quite  fatigued.  On  Monday  they  started  for 
their  long  trip  across  the  State  of  New  York  to  Albany,  ad- 
dressing the  people  briefly  at  different  cities,  including  Roches- 
ter, Syracuse  and  Utica;  then  they  sped  on  to  Albany,  where 
a  large  company  escorted  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  State  House. 
They  next  passed  on  to  Troy,  where  Mr.  Lincoln  thanked  the 
people  briefly  for  their  kind  reception. 

In  their  journey,  a  few  hours  before,  the  train  stopped  at 
Westfield  a  few  moments  and  perhaps  at  Mr.  Lincoln's  sugges- 
tion. He  stepped  to  the  rear  of  the  car  and  made  a  brief 
speech,  stating  among  other  things  that  he  had  in  their  city 
a  little  correspondent,  by  the  name  of  Grace  Bedell,  and  if 
she  were  present  he  would  like  to  see  her.  It  seems  that  in 
the  presidential  campaign  of  the  previous  fall  little  Grace  had 
seen  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  she  remarked  to  her  mother 
that  she  thought  he  would  look  better  if  he  wore  whiskers. 
Up  to  that  time  he  never  had  worn  a  beard,  and  she  was  going 
to  write  to  Mr.  Lincoln  and  tell  him  so. 

So  she  wrote  him  a  short  epistle,  telling  him  of  her  age 
and  place  of  residence,  and  that  she  was  a  Republican;  further 
she  thought  he  would  make  a  good  president,  but  would  look 
better  if  he  would  wear  a  beard.  If  he  would  do  this  she  would 
induce  her  two  brothers,  who  were  Democrats,  to  vote  for  him. 
She  further  wrote:  "If  you  do  not  have  time  to  answer  my 
letter,  will  you  allow  your  little  girl  to  reply  for  you?"  The 
letter  pleased  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  he  answered  at  once. 

Springfield,  111.,  October  19,  1860. 
Miss  Grace  Bedell: 

My  dear  little  Miss:  Your  very  agreeable  letter  of 
the  15th  is  received.    I  regret  the  necessity  of  saying 


126  Abraham  Lincoln 

I  have  no  daughter.  I  have  three  sons:  one  seven- 
teen; one  nine;  and  one  seven  years  of  age.  They, 
with  their  mother,  constitute  my  whole  family.  As 
to  whiskers,  having  never  worn  any,  do  you  not  think 
people  would  call  it  a  piece  of  silly  affectation  if  I 
should  begin  now?     Your  very  sincere  well-wisher, 

A.  Lincoln. 

It  may  be  said  that  evidently  Mr.  Lincoln  took  this  matter 
of  whisker-growing  quite  seriously,  for  before  he  started  East 
his  face  was  adorned  with  a  full-grown  beard,  barring  the 
upper  lip. 

Recurring  now  to  the  Westfield  incident,  it  was  quite  nat- 
ural that  Mr.  Lincoln  should  desire  to  see  his  "little  corre- 
spondent" and  show  her  that  her  epistle  to  him  had  been  pro- 
ductive of  good  results.  So  when  her  name  was  called  out 
Grace  responded  at  once,  coming  forward  timidly  to  the  car, 
when  the  great-hearted  Lincoln  reached  down  his  long  arms 
and,  lifting  the  little  girl  up,  kissed  her.  Colonel  McClure,  in 
his  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  from  which  I  have  made  extended  ex- 
tracts, says  this  was  done  "amid  enthusiastic  applause  from 
the  approving  multitude."  It  is  quite  evident  that  little  Grace 
long  remembered  this  happy,  inspiring  incident,  and  was 
pleased  with  the  thought  that  the  president-elect  had  grown  a 
beard  at  her  request. 

In  a  former  paragraph  I  mentioned  the  arrival  of  the  presi- 
dential party  at  Troy,  N.  Y.  Thence  they  turned  southward, 
where  at  Hudson,  Poughkeepsie  and  Peekskill,  Lincoln  made 
short  addresses,  thence  proceeded  to  New  York  City,  where 
they  arrived  early  in  the  afternoon.  A  large  company  of 
political  and  other  friends  met  Lincoln  at  the  depot  and  es- 
corted him  and  party  to  the  Astor  House.  Business  was  sus- 
pended and  vast  throngs  crowded  Broadway  and  other  thor- 


Gathering  Clouds  127 

oughfares  to  secure,  if  possible,  a  glimpse  of  the  future  Presi- 
dent. A  speech  from  Mr.  Lincoln  was  loudly  called  for,  but 
he  was  too  fatigued  to  respond,  though  he  stepped  upon  the 
balcony  of  the  hotel  and  bowed  to  the  excited  multitude. 

At  Trenton,  N.  J.,  the  next  stop,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  received 
by  a  committee  of  the  Legislature  and  escorted  to  the  State 
House.  In  his  short  address  he  alluded  to  the  fact  that  in  his 
early  life  he  had  read  Weems'  "Life  of  Washington,"  in  which 
were  recited  accounts  of  the  numerous  battlefields  and  mar- 
velous struggles  of  the  Revolutionary  fathers  for  the  liberties 
of  the  country ;  and  none  of  them  fixed  themselves  more  vividly 
on  his  young  imagination  than  the  struggle  in  and  around 
Trenton.  He  recalled  the  bravery  of  Washington  in  crossing 
the  Delaware,  with  its  swift,  icy  current,  and  the  great  peril 
to  the  soldiers  thus  involved.  He  also  spoke  of  other  hard- 
ships and  acts  of  bravery  incident  to  the  Revolutionary  War, 
and  thought  it  was  something  more  than  common  that  these 
men  struggled  for.  From  Trenton  the  Lincoln  party  proceeded 
to  Philadelphia,  and  were  entertained  at  the  Continental  Hotel. 
He  was  invited  to  raise  the  American  flag  over  Independence 
Hall,  from  which  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  first 
proclaimed  to  the  world,  which  invitation  he  readily  accepted. 
Before  doing  so,  he  proceeded  to  make  an  impressive,  patriotic 
address.  He  maintained  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
not  only  recited  that  all  men  were  created  equal  but  that  it 
implied  more;  it  implied  that  there  should  be  equal  rights  for 
all,  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men. 

"This  is  the  sentiment,"  he  remarked,  "embodied  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence."  He  proceeded  to  say:  "If  the 
country  cannot  be  saved  upon  that  principle,  it  will  be  truly 
awful.  But  if  it  cannot  be  saved  without  giving  up  that  prin- 
ciple, I  was  about  to  say  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this 
spot  than  surrender  it.     I  have  said  nothing  but  what  I  am 


128  Abraham  Lincoln 

willing  to  live  by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God, 
to  die  by."  ("The  Children's  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  M.  L. 
Putnam,  Page  121.)  Having  said  this,  he  stepped  to  the  plat- 
form, and  taking  hold  of  the  cord,  drew  the  beautiful  flag  to 
the  top  of  the  staff.  An  admiring  multitude  expressed  their 
appreciation  by  prolonged  applause. 

While  at  his  hotel  at  Philadelphia  Lincoln  met  Allen 
Pinkerton,  a  well  known  detective  from  Chicago,  who  informed 
him  that  there  was  a  well-laid  plan  for  his  assassination  at  the 
very  time  he  was  expected  to  go  through  Baltimore,  and  that 
he  (Pinkerton)  was  well  informed  as  to  the  plan.  Lincoln 
was  not  disposed  to  believe  the  report,  but  Fred  Seward,  son 
of  Governor  Seward,  arrived  at  the  hotel  shortly  afterwards 
and  was  soon  closeted  with  Lincoln  in  the  latter's  room.  Young 
Seward  informed  him  that  he  had  come  there  at  the  instance 
of  his  father  and  General  Scott  to  tell  him  that  their  detectives 
at  Baltimore  had  discovered  a  plot  there  to  assassinate  him. 

It  seems  that  these  detectives  knew  nothing  about  the  plot, 
concerning  which  Mr.  Pinkerton  had  previously  learned.  In 
writing  about  this  incident  subsequently  Lincoln  said:  "I  now 
believed  such  a  plot  to  be  in  existence."  Their  plans  were 
quickly  changed.  Long  after  night-fall,  Lincoln,  with  Detective 
Pinkerton  and  Ward  H.  Lamon,  his  law-partner  and  body- 
guard, was  taken  in  a  carriage  to  the  Philadelphia,  Wilming- 
ton &  Baltimore  Railroad  depot.  Lincoln  secured  a  berth  in 
the  sleeping  car  and  at  11  p.  m.  the  train  started  for  Washing- 
ton, where  it  arrived  a  little  before  daylight,  on  February  23. 
The  train  with  its  precious  freight  passing  through  Baltimore 
at  an  unexpected  hour  frustrated,  most  effectually,  the  mur- 
derous designs  of  the  would-be  assassins.  Lincoln  was  met  at 
the  depot  by  Congressman  Washburn  of  Illinois  and  Governor 
Seward  of  New  York,  and  escorted  to  the  Willard  Hotel.  "The 
meeting  of  these  great  men,"  it  is  said,  "under  the  extraordinary 


Gathering  Clouds  129 

circumstances  which  surrounded  them  was  full  of  emotion  and 
thankfulness."  A  more  extended  account  of  the  journey  of 
Lincoln  from  Springfield  to  Washington  can  be  found  in  "The 
Children's  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  by  the  able  writer, 
M.  Louise  Putnam. 

When  Lincoln  arrived  in  Washington  he  found  the  govern- 
ment in  a  deplorable,  chaotic  condition.  Surrounded  by  an 
atmosphere  as  well  as  threats  of  secession,  many  of  our  North- 
ern political  leaders  had  become  somewhat  intimidated  and 
willing  to  make  most  any  compromise  with  the  South,  how- 
ever detrimental  it  might  be  to  the  National  Government,  if 
such  compromise  would  prevent  a  precipitation  of  war. 

In  the  early  part  of  December,  1860,  no  less  than  forty 
bills  were  introduced  in  Congress,  it  is  said,  each  offering  a 
panacea  or  remedy  for  existing  political  ills,  and  none  pro- 
ductive of  favorable  results.  In  the  discussion  of  the  various 
propositions  by  Northern  Congressmen,  there  was  a  babel  of 
incoherent  expression  that  was  bewildering  in  the  extreme,  and 
in  no  way  flattering  to  the  intelligence  of  an  American  Con- 
gressman. Andrew  Johnson,  who  was  then  Vice-President, 
tried  to  conciliate  the  South  by  suggesting  a  scheme  that  would 
give  the  Presidency  to  the  South  and  Vice-Presidency  to  the 
North  and  vice-versa  every  alternate  four  years.  Daniel  Sickel, 
a  Congressman,  suggested  another  but  equally  puerile  scheme, 
namely,  that  New  York  City  be  permitted  to  withdraw  from 
the  Union  and  form  an  independent  sovereignty  like  some 
cities  of  ancient  Europe. 

Of  course  there  were  some  men  in  Congress  of  strong  force 
and  character,  notably  Ben  Wade  of  Ohio,  Zack  Chandler  of 
Michigan,  and  Simon  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania,  who  stood 
with  their  faces  like  a  flint  against  disunion,  unyielding  to  any 
system  of  compromise,  however  specious  it  might  appear.  The 
people  of  America  owe  to  these  three  resolute  men  and  a  few 
other  Congressmen  a  debt  of  gratitude. 


130  Abraham  Lincoln 

In  his  message  to  Congress  in  December,  1860,  President 
Buchanan,  a  weak,  vacillating  ruler,  like  Pilate  of  old,  found 
no  authority  in  the  Constitution  to  coerce  a  state,  seceding 
from  the  Union.  He  took  occasion  to  point  out  and  emphasize 
what  he  denominated  as  negations  and  prohibitions  in  every 
line  of  the  Constitution,  but  saw  no  declaration  of  aid  or 
assistance  to  the  government  in  the  great  instrument  he  had 
sworn  to  support. 

Frederick  Trever  Hill  represents  Mr.  Seward  as  stating  that 
the  President  in  "his  long  and  argumentative  message  to  Con- 
gress in  December,  1860,  conclusively  proved,  first,  that  no 
state  had  the  right  to  secede  unless  it  wanted  to;  and,  second, 
that  it  was  the  President's  duty  to  enforce  the  law  unless  some- 
body opposed  him." 

The  same  writer  says,  in  substance,  that  Seward  himself, 
as  an  able  lawyer  though  he  was,  subsequently  lost  his  head 
by  asserting  that  the  best  method  of  avoiding  civil  strife  was 
to  instigate  a  foreign  war.  Older  readers  will  readily  recall 
that  Horace  Greeley,  the  great  New  York  Tribune  editor, 
opposed  Mr.  Lincoln  almost  from  the  start,  and  maintained, 
in  substance,  that  where  a  number  of  states  desired  to  secede,  as 
was  the  case  in  the  South,  the  best  thing  to  do  was  to  "let  the 
erring  sisters  go."  Thus  we  see  the  opposition  and  grave  prob- 
lems that  confronted  Lincoln  from  the  outset. 


(End  of  Part  One) 


PART  TWO 
THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  LINCOLN 


CHAPTER  I. 
Policies  and  Hostilities 

A  T  NOON,  March  4,  1861,  President  Buchanan  came  to  the 

/\   Willard  Hotel  to  escort  the  President-elect  to  the  Capi- 

■**  ■*■  tol.     Together  they  were  driven  to  the  north  end  of 

the  Capitol,  being  carefully  guarded  by  platoons  of  soldiers, 

which  were  stationed  at  convenient  intervals  along  the  avenue. 

Miss  Ida  M.  Tarbell,  speaking  of  the  event,  describes  it  as 
follows:  "Arm  in  arm  with  Mr.  Buchanan,  Mr.  Lincoln  passed 
through  the  long  tunnel  erected  for  his  protection,  entered  the 
Capitol,  and  passed  into  the  Senate  Chamber,  filled  to  over- 
flowing with  Senators,  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps  and 
visitors.  The  contrast  between  the  two  men  as  they  entered 
struck  every  observer.  'Mr.  Buchanan  was  so  withered  and 
bowed  with  age,'  wrote  George  W.  Julian  of  Indiana,  who  was 
among  the  spectators,  'that  in  contrast  with  the  towering  form 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  he  seemed  little  more  than  half  a  man.' '' 

She  proceeds  to  state,  in  substance,  that  shortly  the  distin- 
guished company  began  to  move  from  the  Senate  Chamber 
to  the  east  front  of  the  Capitol,  being  led  by  the  justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  in  cap  and  gown.  When  the  company  was 
conveniently  seated  on  the  platform  erected  on  the  east  portico 
of  the  Capitol,  Mr.  Lincoln  arose  and  advanced  to  the  front, 
"where  he  was  introduced  by  his  friend,  Senator  Baker  of 
Oregon." 

He  reversed  the  general  order  of  taking  the  oath  of  office 
provided  in  the  Constitution,  and  then  delivering  the  message, 
by  speaking  first  and  then  taking  the  required  official  oath. 

He  was  dressed  in  a  fine  cutaway  suit  and  a  silk  hat,  prob- 


134  Abraham  Lincoln 

ably  the  first  he  ever  possessed.  He  unfolded  and  took  his 
voluminous  manuscript  in  his  left  hand,  holding  his  hat  in 
the  other,  and  while  looking  for  a  convenient  place  in  which 
to  place  it,  Judge  Douglas,  a  life-long  political  antagonist, 
stepped  forward  quickly  and  took  it,  remarking  as  he  did  so: 
"If  I  can't  be  President,  I,  at  least,  can  hold  his  hat."  ("The 
Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  Ida  M.  Tarbell.  Vol.  2,  Page  1. 
The  Macmillan  Company,  New  York,  Publishers.)  In  the  fine 
inaugural  picture,  which  is  available  in  most  of  our  book- 
stores, the  manly  form  of  the  great  Commoner,  with  head  and 
shoulders  towering  above  the  surrounding  auditors,  is  seen 
at  the  stand,  with  Chief  Justice  Taney  at  his  right,  President 
Buchanan  just  in  the  rear,  behind  whom  stands  Judge  Douglas 
with  the  hat.  At  his  left  stood  Mrs.  Lincoln,  and  near  the 
speaker  stood  the  eloquent  Senator  Baker. 

It  is  said  that  Mr.  Lincoln  addressed  an  audience  of  about 
thirty  thousand  people,  but  only  one-third  of  the  throng  united 
in  the  general  applause  that  attended  the  rendition  of  the 
address.  The  reason  for  this  is  quite  apparent,  if  the  state- 
ment of  some  reporters  be  true,  namely,  that  there  were  as 
many  or  more  disunionists  in  the  city  that  day,  than  loyal 
citizens. 

Mr.  Lincoln  read  his  address  with  deliberation  and  a  voice 
that  carried  his  words  to  the  remotest  limit  of  the  turbulent 
crowd.  Owing  to  the  length  of  the  document,  nearly  an  hour 
must  have  been  consumed  in  its  delivery.  It  was  given  prompt 
and  extended  publicity,  and  read  with  absorbing  interest.  As 
a  whole,  the  inaugural  message  was  and  is  regarded  as  a  mas- 
terpiece of  almost  unparalleled  merit.  As  a  state  paper  it  has 
few  equals  in  all  the  domain  of  American  and  English  history. 
It  is  scarcely  excelled  by  the  great  Magna  Charta,  a  document 
wrested  from  King  John  by  the  English  barons  at  Runnymede, 
June   19,   1215.     Also,   it  will  compare   favorably  with  our 


Policies  and  Hostilities  135 

Declaration  of  Independence.  My  young  readers  will  recall 
this,  as  the  product  of  the  fertile  brain  of  Thomas  Jefferson, 
and  adopted  by  the  Continental  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  July 
4,  1776. 

The  President's  written  message  is  certainly  a  remarkable 
paper,  and  those  who  have  not  read  it  should  avail  themselves 
of  the  first  opportunity  of  doing  so.  The  entire  address  is  too 
lengthy  for  publication  in  this  volume;  for  it  is  not  the  pur- 
pose of  this  writer  to  print  entire  or  make  extended  extracts 
from  the  public  addresses  or  state  papers  of  President  Lincoln, 
however  meritorious  they  may  be. 

Permit  a  few  extracts  from  the  great  document  to  suffice. 
After  a  few  preliminary  remarks  Mr.  Lincoln  proceeded  as 
follows:  "I  do  not  consider  it  necessary,  at  present,  for  me  to 
discuss  those  matters  of  administration  about  which  there  is 
no  special  anxiety  or  excitement.  Apprehension  seems  to  exist 
among  the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  that  by  the  accession 
of  a  Republican  administration,  their  property  and  peace  and 
personal  security  are  endangered.  There  never  has  been  any 
reasonable  cause  for  such  apprehension. 

"Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence  to  the  contrary  has  all 
the  while  existed  and  been  open  to  inspection.  It  is  found  in 
nearly  all  the  published  speeches  of  him  who  now  addresses 
you.  I  do  but  quote  from  one  of  those  speeches  when  I  de- 
clare that  I  have  no  purpose,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere 
with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  states  where  it  exists.  I  believe 
I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so;  and  I  have  no  inclination  to 
do  so." 

He  recites  the  resolution  of  the  state  convention  which 
nominated  him,  in  proof  of  what  he  has  previously  stated,  and 
then  proceeds:  "I  now  reiterate  the  sentiments;  and  in  doing 
so  I  only  press  upon  the  public  attention  the  most  conclusive 
evidence  of  which  the  case  is  susceptible,  that  the  property, 


136  Abraham  Lincoln 

peace  and  security  of  no  section  are  to  be  in  any  wise  endan- 
gered by  the  incoming  administration.  I  add,  too,  that  all  the 
protection  which,  consistently  with  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws,  can  be  given  will  be  cheerfully  given  to  all  states  when 
lawfully  demanded,  for  whatever  cause,  as  cheerfully  to  one 
section  as  to  another. 

"I  take  the  official  oath  today  with  no  mental  reservations, 
and  with  no  purpose  to  construe  the  Constitution  or  laws  by 
any  hypercritical  rules." 

Concluding  paragraphs  of  this  almost  incomparable  address 
are  as  follows:  "Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate;  we 
cannot  remove  our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor 
build  an  impassable  wall  between  them.  A  husband  and  wife 
may  be  divorced  and  go  out  of  the  presence  and  beyond  the 
reach  of  each  other,  but  the  different  parts  of  this  country 
cannot  do  this.  They  cannot  but  remain  face  to  face;  and  in- 
tercourse, either  amicable  or  hostile,  must  continue  between 
them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to  make  that  intercourse  more 
advantageous  or  more  satisfactory  after  separation  than  be- 
fore? Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier  than  friends  can  make 
laws?  Can  treaties  be  more  faithfully  enforced  between  aliens 
than  laws  can  among  friends?  Suppose  you  go  to  war,  you 
cannot  fight  always;  and  when  after  much  loss  on  both  sides, 
and  no  gain  on  either,  you  cease  fighting,  the  identical  ques- 
tion as  to  terms  of  intercourse  are  again  upon  you. 

"If  it  were  admitted  that  you  who  are  dissatisfied  hold  the 
right  side  of  the  dispute,  there  is  still  no  single  reason  for  pre- 
cipitate action.  Intelligence,  patience,  Christianity  and  a  firm 
reliance  on  Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land, 
are  still  competent  to  adjust,  in  the  best  way,  all  our  present 
difficulties.  In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen, 
and  not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The 
government  will  not  assail  you.  You  can  have  no  conflict  with- 
out being  yourselves  the  aggressors. 


Policies  and  Hostilities  137 

"You  have  no  oath  registered  in  Heaven  to  destroy  the 
government,  while  I  shall  have  the  most  solemn  one  to  'pre- 
serve, protect  and  defend'  it.  I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not 
enemies,  but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  pas- 
sion may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affec- 
tion. The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearth- 
stone all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the 
Union  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better 
angels  of  our  nature."    Thus  endeth  the  great  address. 

"The  habitual  tone  of  this  remarkable  paper  is  deprecatory, 
not  to  say  apologetic,"  said  Horace  Greeley,  speaking  of  the 
address.  "Mr.  Lincoln  evidently  composed  it  under  the  fixed 
impression  that  'the  South'  needed  but  to  be  disabused  of  her 
impressions  and  apprehensions  of  Northern  hostility  to  restore 
her  to  loyalty  and  the  whole  land  to  peace.  If  she  can  be 
made  to  feel  that  the  new  rule  does  not  desire  to  meddle  with 
slavery  in  the  states  which  cherish  it,  but  will  hunt  and  return 
fugitive  slaves  to  the  extent  of  its  ability,  then  secession  will  be 
given  up,  and  the  country  restored  to  peace  and  harmony. 
That  certainly  is  an  amiable  view  of  the  situation,  but  it  was 
not  justified  by  a  close  study  and  thorough  comprehension  of 
our  recent  political  history." 

Mr.  Greeley  goes  on  to  state:  "The  strong  point  of  the 
inaugural  is  its  frank  and  plump  denial  of  the  fundamental 
secession  dogma  that  our  Union  is  a  league,  formed  in  1787." 

"The  Union  is  older  than  the  Constitution,"  says  Mr.  Lin- 
coln truly  and  pertinently.  Had  the  Constitution  been  rejected 
by  the  states,  the  Union  would  nevertheless  have  subsisted. 
Ours  is  "one  country" — made  so  by  God  and  His  providence, 
revealed  through  the  whole  of  its  history;  "its  more  perfect 
Union"  is  but  a  step  in  its  development — not  the  cause  of  its 
existence.    Hence,  secession  is  not  "the  dissolution  of  a  league," 


138  Abraham  Lincoln 

as  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  asserts,  but  a  treasonable,  though  futile, 
effort  to  disorganize  and  destroy  a  nation. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  rejection  of  disunion  as  physically  impos- 
sible, as  forbidden  by  the  geography  and  topography  of  our 
country,  is  a  statesmanlike  conception  that  had  not  before  been 
so  clearly  apprehended  or  so  forcibly  set  forth. 

Mr.  Lincoln  fondly  regarded  his  inaugural  as  a  resistless 
proffering  of  the  olive  branch  to  the  South;  the  conspirators 
everywhere  interpreted  it  as  a  challenge  to  war.  And  when 
the  former  had  taken  the  oath,  solemnly  administered  to  him 
by  Chief  Justice  Taney,  the  two  Presidents  wended  their  way 
back,  duly  escorted,  to  the  White  House,  at  whose  door  Mr. 
Buchanan  bade  Mr.  Lincoln  a  cordial  good-bye,  retiring  to  the 
residence  of  his  friend  and  benefactor,  whom  he  had  made 
United  States  District  Attorney."  (From  Greeley's  "American 
Conflict,"  Pages  427-7.) 

It  was  to  be  hoped  that  the  President's  inaugural  address 
would  be  received  in  the  same  friendly  spirit  in  which  it  was 
given;  but  such  was  not  the  case.  To  the  earnest,  solicitous 
appeal  for  reconciliation,  from  the  soul  of  the  noble  Lincoln, 
the  South  made  no  response.  The  attitude  of  the  press  in 
Southern  and  border  states  was  antagonistic  from  the  start. 
Hear  what  the  Baltimore  "Sun"  says:  "The  inaugural,  as  a 
whole,  breathes  the  spirit  of  mischief.  It  has  only  a  conditional 
conservatism,  that  is,  the  lack  of  ability  or  some  inexpediency 
to  do  what  it  would.  It  assumes  despotic  authority,  and  inti- 
mates the  design  to  execute  that  authority  to  any  extent  of  war 
and  bloodshed,  qualified  only  by  the  withholding  of  the  requi- 
site means  to  the  end  by  the  American  people.  The  argumen- 
tation of  the  address  is  puerile.  Indeed,  it  has  no  quality  en- 
titled to  the  dignity  of  an  argument.  It  is  a  shaky  specimen 
of  special  pleading,  by  way  of  justifying  the  unrighteous  char- 
acter and  deeds  of  the  fanaticism  which,  lifted  into  power, 


Policies  and  Hostilities  139 

may  be  guilty,  as  it  is  capable,  of  any  atrocities.  There  is  no 
Union  spirit  in  the  address;  it  is  sectional  and  mischievous, 
and  studiously  withholds  any  sign  of  recognition  of  that  equal- 
ity of  the  states  upon  which  the  Union  can  alone  be  maintained. 
If  it  means  what  it  says,  it  is  the  knell  and  requiem  of  the 
Union,  and  the  death  of  hope." 

Other  supposedly  loyal  papers  in  Northern  States  spoke  in 
the  same  vein.  The  editor  of  the  Philadelphia  "Pennsylvanian" 
wrote  as  follows:  "Mr.  Lincoln  stands  today  where  he  stood 
on  the  6th  of  November  last,  on  the  Chicago  platform.  He 
has  not  receded  a  single  hair's  breadth.  He  has  appointed  a 
Cabinet  in  which  there  is  no  slave-holder,  a  thing  that  has 
never  before  happened  since  the  foundation  of  the  government; 
and  in  which  there  are  but  two  nominally  Southern  men,  and 
both  bitter  Republicans  of  the  radical  dye.  Let  the  border 
states  ignominiously  submit  the  abolition  rule  of  the  Lincoln 
administration,  if  they  like;  but  don't  let  the  miserable  sub- 
missionists  pretend  to  be  deceived.  Make  any  base  or  cowardly 
excuse  but  this."  Many  similar  editorials  in  the  North  could 
be  cited.  Thus  we  see  how  Mr.  Lincoln  was  "wounded  in  the 
house  of  his  friends." 

When  it  was  evident  to  all  intelligent  readers  that  in  the 
South  an  organized  effort,  pernicious  and  virulent,  was  being 
made  for  the  dismemberment  of  the  Union,  the  President  should 
have  had,  as  he  deserved,  the  loyal,  the  unqualified  support 
of  every  patriot  in  America.  That  such  was  not  the  case  soon 
became  apparent,  and  painfully  so.  No  President  since  the 
day  of  Washington  had  been  the  subject  of  such  misrepresenta- 
tion and  villification  as  was  the  noble  Lincoln.  To  this  treat- 
ment, which  was  often  insult  added  to  injury,  he  made  no 
resentment,  but  often  offered  up  a  silent  prayer,  probably,  as 
did  his  Divine  Lord,  "Father  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do." 


140  Abraham  Lincoln 

In  about  a  week  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration,  on 
March  12,  1861,  two  commissioners  by  the  names  of  John 
Forsyth  and  Martin  J.  Crawford,  arrived  from  the  South. 
They  manifested  by  their  presence  and  method  of  communica- 
tion to  Governor  Seward  a  spirit  of  assurance,  not  to  say 
bravado,  that  might  characterize  the  arrival  in  Washington  of 
duly  accredited  commissioners  and  ministers  plenipotentiaries 
from  the  Court  of  Saint  James.  Read  their  unbridled  audacity. 
I  will  give  it  in  part: 

Washington,  March  12,  1861. 
Hon.  William  H.  Seward, 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States. 

"Sir:  The  undersigned  have  been  duly  accredited  by  the 
Government  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  as  commis- 
sioners to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and,  in  pur- 
suance of  their  instructions,  have  now  the  honor  to  acquaint 
you  with  that  fact  and  to  make  known,  through  you,  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States  the  object  of  their  presence  in 
this  Capital." 

Then  they  proceeded  to  announce,  what  Senator  John  C. 
Calhoun  of  South  Carolina  had  promulgated  thirty  years  be- 
fore, that  any  state,  in  the  exercise  of  its  prerogative,  had  the 
inherent  right  to  secede  from  the  Union,  and  form  a  sover- 
eignty of  its  own  whenever,  in  the  judgment  of  its  citizens,  the 
interests  of  said  state  would  be  best  served  thereby.  It  did  not 
take  Uncle  Sam  many  months  or  years  to  prove  to  the  South 
that  through  such  a  dogma  as  that,  a  hole  could  be  shot,  suffi- 
ciently large  to  allow  a  coach  and  four  to  be  driven.  Hear 
further  what  these  representatives  of  the  so-called  Confederate 
States  had  to  say:  "Seven  states  of  the  late  Federal  Union  hav- 
ing, in  the  exercise  of  the  inherent  right  of  every  free  people 
to  change  or  reform  their  political  institutions,  and  through 


Policies  and  Hostilities  141 

conventions  of  their  people,  withdrawn  from  the  United  States, 
and  resumed  the  attributes  of  sovereign  power,  delegated  to  it, 
have  formed  a  government  of  their  own.  The  Confederate 
States  constitute  an  independent  nation,  de  facto  and  dejure, 
and  possess  a  government  perfect  in  all  its  parts,  and  endowed 
with  all  the  means  of  self-support." 

Then,  after  expressing  a  wish  that  a  speedy  adjustment  of 
questions  growing  out  of  the  political  separation  upon  such 
terms  of  amity  as  the  respectable  interests  of  the  two  nations 
may  render  necessary,  the  commissioners  proceeded  to  say: 
"We,  the  undersigned,  are  instructed  to  make  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  overtures  for  the  opening  of  negotia- 
tions, assuring  the  Government  of  the  United  States  that  the 
President,  Congress  and  people  of  the  Confederate  States  earn- 
estly desire  a  peaceable  solution  of  these  great  questions;  that 
it  is  neither  their  interest  nor  wish  to  make  any  demand  which 
is  not  founded  in  strict  justice,  nor  do  any  act  to  injure  their 
late  confederates." 

Then  they  request  Governor  Seward,  as  Secretary  of  State, 
to  appoint  a  day  as  early  as  possible,  wherein  they  may  present 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States  "the  credentials  which 
they  bear  and  the  objects  of  the  mission  with  which  they  are 
charged,"  concluding  with, 

"We  are,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servants, 

John  Forsyth, 
Martin  J.  Crawford." 

Mr.  John  Forsyth,  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  Mr.  Martin 
J.  Crawford,  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  on  the  11th  inst.  through 
the  kind  office  of  a  distinguished  Senator  submitted  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  their  desire  for  an  unofficial  interview.  The 
request  was,  on  the  12th  inst.  upon  exclusive  considerations, 


142  Abraham  Lincoln 

respectfully  declined.  Governor  Seward  recites  most  of  the 
communication  from  the  Southern  commissioners,  and  then 
proceeds  to  say:  "The  Secretary  of  State  frankly  confesses  that 
he  understands  the  events  which  have  recently  occurred,  and 
the  condition  of  political  affairs  which  actually  exists  in  the 
part  of  the  Union  to  which  his  attention  has  been  directed,  very 
differently  from  the  aspect  in  which  they  are  presented  by 
Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford.  He  sees  in  them,  not  a  right- 
ful and  accomplished  revolution  and  an  independent  nation, 
with  an  established  government,  but  rather  a  perversion  of  a 
temporary  and  partisan  excitement  to  the  inconsiderate  pur- 
poses of  an  unjustifiable  and  unconstitutional  aggression  upon 
the  rights  and  the  authority  vested  in  the  Federal  Government, 
and  hitherto  benignly  exercised,  as  from  their  very  nature 
they  always  must  be  exercised,  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
Union  and  the  preservation  of  liberty  and  the  security,  peace, 
welfare,  happiness  and  aggrandizement  of  the  American 
people. 

"The  Secretary  of  State  therefore  avows  to  Forsyth  and 
Crawford  that  he  looks  patiently  and  confidently  for  the  cure 
of  evils  which  have  resulted  from  proceedings  so  unnecessary, 
so  unwise,  so  unnatural,  and  so  unusual,  not  to  say  irregular 
negotiations,  having  in  view  new  and  untried  relations  with 
agencies  unknown  to  and  acting  in  derogation  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws,  but  to  regular  and  considerate  action  of 
the  people  of  those  states,  in  cooperation  with  their  brethren 
in  the  other  states,  through  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
and  such  extraordinary  conventions,  if  there  be  any  need 
thereof,  as  the  Federal  Constitution  contemplates  and  auth- 
orizes to  be  assembled. 

"It  is,  however,  the  purpose  of  the  Secretary  of  State  not 
to  engage  in  any  discussion  of  those  subjects,  but  simply  to 
set  forth  his  reasons  for  declining  to  comply  with  the  request 
of  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford." 


Policies  and  Hostilities  143 

The  Secretary  of  State  then  alludes  to  the  policy  of  the  new 
administration  as  enunciated  by  President  Lincoln  in  his 
inaugural  address  of  March  4,  a  copy  of  which  was  enclosed 
to  the  Southern  commissioners,  with  the  request  that  they  give 
the  same  their  earnest  and  careful  consideration. 

The  Secretary  proceeded  then  to  remark:  "A  simple  refer- 
ence will  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  those  gentlemen  that  the  Sec- 
retary of  State,  guided  by  the  principles  therein  announced, 
is  prevented  altogether  from  admitting  or  assuming  that  the 
states  referred  to  by  them  have,  in  law  or  fact,  withdrawn  from 
the  Federal  Union,  or  that  they  could  do  so  in  the  manner 
described  by  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford,  or  in  any  other 
manner  than  with  the  consent  and  concert  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  to  be  given  through  a  National  convention, 
to  be  assembled  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  Of  course,  the  Secretary  of  State 
cannot  act  upon  the  assumption,  or  in  any  way  admit,  that  the 
so-called  Confederate  States  constitute  a  foreign  power,  with 
whom  diplomatic  relations  ought  to  be  established." 

The  Secretary  proceeded  to  state  that  under  these  circum- 
stances and  others  that  might  be  named,  he  is  unable,  in  the 
exercise  of  his  official  duties,  "to  comply  with  the  request  of 
Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford  to  appoint  a  day  on  which  they 
may  present  the  evidences  of  their  authority  and  the  objects 
of  their  visit  to  the  President  of  the  United  States.  On  the 
contrary,  he  is  obliged  to  state  to  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Craw- 
ford that  he  has  no  authority,  nor  is  he  at  liberty,  to  recognize 
them  as  diplomatic  agents,  or  hold  correspondence  or  other 
communication  with  them." 

The  Secretary  of  State  proceeded  further  to  say  that  while 
he  could  have  adopted  these  conclusions  and  submitted  same 
to  the  commissioners  without  making  any  reference  of  the 
subject  to  the  Executive,  yet  in  the  spirit  of  candor  and  perfect 


144  Abraham  Lincoln 

respect  to  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford,  that  he  has  cheerfully 
submitted  the  paper  to  the  President,  who  coincides  in  the  view 
it  expresses  and  sanctions  the  decisions  of  the  Secretary  in  de- 
clining official  intercourse  with  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford. 

One  historian  remarks  that  "Governor  Seward's  reply, 
though  pacific  in  temper,  and  evidently  animated  by  the  hope 
that  hostilities  may  yet  be  avoided,  is  eminently  frank  and 
explicit." 

The  President  was  well  advised,  and  had  been  all  along, 
as  to  the  activities  of  the  South  in  their  evident  and  extended 
preparations  for  war;  yet  he  indulged  the  hope,  as  did  his 
legal  associate  and  Cabinet  members,  that  better  counsel  would 
prevail,  and  the  seceding  states  resume  their  former  allegiance 
to  the  National  Government.  If  at  this  juncture  the  citizens 
of  the  South  had  taken  this  sensible  and  friendly  view  of  the 
situation,  even  a  day  before  the  actual  precipitation  of  war, 
what  horrors,  what  devastation,  what  vast  expenditures  of  treas- 
ury and  blood  would  have  been  avoided.  But  sad  the  saying, 
and  true  as  sad,  that  "Whom  the  gods  would  destroy,  they 
first  make  mad."  The  commissioners  from  the  South  seem 
to  have  been  unaffected  by,  or  at  least  indifferent  to,  the  logi- 
cal statesmanlike  presentation  of  the  far-reaching,  momentous 
questions  under  consideration,  and  so  ably  discussed  by  Gov- 
ernor Seward;  for  in  a  month  they  returned  to  their  South- 
land, declaring  in  a  letter  they  left  behind,  they  now  "accepted 
the  gage  of  battle." 

Up  to  this  time  there  seems  to  have  been  no  settled  policy 
of  the  new  administration  as  to  its  non-interference,  nor  as  to 
its  coercive  attitude  towards  the  South;  but  in  the  mind  of 
the  great  Lincoln  there  was,  doubtless,  a  fixed  determination 
that  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  as  to  the  unity  of  the 
states,  should  be  fully  maintained,  and  the  Federal  laws  exe- 
cuted at  all  hazards. 


Policies  and  Hostilities  145 

It  is  quite  true  that  the  President  did  not  receive  the  co- 
operation from  eminent  statesmen,  not  those  even  of  his  own 
party,  that  he  desired  and  had  a  right  to  expect.  Prominent 
Democrats,  notably  Senator  Douglas,  were  opposed  to  coercion 
in  any  form;  while  Edward  Everett,  the  leading  and  most  elo- 
quent Republican  member  of  the  United  States  Senate, 
"preached  love,  forgiveness  and  Union." 

The  members  of  Congress  had  no  adequate  conception  of 
the  gravity  of  the  situation,  for  it  adjourned  in  the  Spring  of 
'61  without  making  any  preparation  for  the  tremendous,  im- 
pending crisis. 

During  the  five  or  six  weeks  interval  between  the  date  of 
the  inaugural  and  that  of  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  the  Con- 
federates were  seizing  on  "all  the  arsenals,  forts,  custom-houses, 
postoffices,  ships,  ordnance  and  material  of  war  belonging  to 
the  United  States  within  the  seceding  state."  The  South,  with 
untiring  vigilance  and  immeasurable  energy,  pursued  its  work 
and  preparation  for  the  impending  conflict,  while  the  people 
of  the  North  were  scarcely  awake  to  the  awful  calamity  that 
would  soon  be  upon  them. 

I  wish  to  digress  here,  for  a  few  moments,  to  place  Judge 
Douglas  and  his  pre-war  attitude,  right,  before  the  reading 
public.  While  the  learned  statesman  used  his  great  influence 
and  forensic  powers,  during  the  Winter  session  of  Congress 
in  '60  and  '61,  and  also  in  the  extra  session  that  followed, 
against  any  coercive  measures  towards  the  South;  yet  when 
war  was  actually  precipitated  by  the  bombardment  of  Fort 
Sumter,  and  other  acts  of  irreconcilable  hostility  on  the  part 
of  the  South  were  shown,  the  judge  changed  his  attitude,  and 
"took  nobly  and  heartily  the  side  of  his  whole  country."  His- 
tory records  the  fact  that  he  sought  an  early  interview  with 
President  Lincoln,  his  life-long  political  antagonist,  and  ten- 
dered his  services  to  him  and  the  country,  in  any  way  they 


146  Abraham  Lincoln 

could  be  made  available.  Of  course  this  unexpected  change 
in  sentiment  and  expression  of  complete  allegiance  to  the 
administration  and  the  country  were  sources  of  unalloyed  grati- 
fication to  the  President.  In  the  preceding  session  of  Congress, 
in  the  bitter  debates  from  members  from  the  South,  and  in 
which  Northern  Democrats  were  active  participants,  the  im- 
pression had  gone  out  into  all  sections  of  the  country,  North 
as  well  as  South,  that  the  great  Democratic  party  was  opposed 
to  war,  no  matter  what  the  outcome  of  the  dissension  might  be. 
President  Lincoln  was  aware  of  this  unfortunate  and  unhappy 
condition,  and  gladly  accepted  the  proffered  service  of  the 
judge  to  neutralize  or  correct  the  said  impression. 

At  President  Lincoln's  request,  Judge  Douglas  consented 
to  travel  extensively  as  possible  in  the  Northern  States,  in  the 
interests  of  the  Union,  and  urge  citizens  everywhere,  Democrats 
and  Republicans  alike,  to  rally  to  the  standards  of  their  coun- 
try. It  had  an  electrical  effect.  He  traveled  first  through  his 
own  state. 

He  spoke  from  the  rear  platform  of  his  car,  at  short  stops, 
in  the  larger  cities  of  Illinois,  and  then  hurried  to  other  states. 
His  messages  were  similar  and  uniform  in  all  places.  In  sub- 
stance they  were:  "There  are  but  two  parties  now  in  our  great 
Republic,  those  that  are  for,  and  those  who  are  against  their 
country.  I  can  assure  you,  my  fellow  countrymen,  that  the 
Nation  is  safe  in  Abraham  Lincoln's  hands."  This  proclama- 
tion from  the  Democratic  party's  idol,  and  from  one  hitherto 
supposedly  anti-war  in  sentiment,  received  extended  publicity 
in  the  Northern  press,  and  was  hailed  everywhere  as  a  reassur- 
ing expression  of  great  worth  to  our  distracted  country.  It  was, 
in  an  eminent  degree,  productive  of  the  desired  results.  Doug- 
las Democrats,  as  well  as  Republicans,  rallied  everywhere  to 
the  defense  of  their  country,  shouldering  their  muskets  and 
marching  to  the  front.     My  oldest  brother,  and  subsequently 


Policies  and  Hostilities  147 

his  three  younger  brothers  (the  writer  included)  enrolled  their 
names  among  their  country's  defenders.  They  all  had  been 
reared  as  young  Democrats,  but  now  considered  their  country's 
honor  and  perpetuity  paramount  to  any  party  considerations 
or  party  interests. 

I  was  at  that  time,  though  just  out  of  my  teens,  as  I  have 
been  during  the  sixty-four  years  since,  a  close  observer  of 
public  men  and  public  measures,  and  I  am  free  to  express, 
what  is  to  me,  a  candid  and  mature  conviction,  shared  by  thou- 
sands of  others,  that  the  great  war  of  '61  to  '65  could  never, 
or  would  ever,  have  been  carried  to  a  glorious  consummation 
without  the  influence  and  interposition,  of  the  great  Democratic 
statesman  from  the  great  Commonwealth  of  Illinois.  Permit 
me  to  express  another  opinion,  namely,  that  from  this  time  to 
the  date  of  his  death,  a  couple  of  months  later,  Judge  Douglas 
and  the  name  of  Judge  Douglas,  was  held  in  as  high  repute  and 
honor,  or  nearly  so,  as  was  that  of  the  immortal  Lincoln. 

Permit  a  further  digression:  At  the  time  of  the  statesman's 
death  (June  3,  1861),  I  was  a  student  in  a  select  school,  at 
Ottawa,  111.  The  news  of  the  "giant's"  death  at  the  latter  named 
city  came  as  a  great  shock,  and  expressions  of  deep  grief  of 
the  state  and  country's  irreparable  loss  were  everywhere  heard. 
The  judge  had  spoken  in  the  city  (where  I  had  previously 
heard  him  in  the  memorable  "Lincoln-Douglas"  debates)  a  few 
weeks  before,  in  the  interests  of  his  stricken  country,  and  seem- 
ingly in  the  best  of  health.  Everyone  mourned  his  premature 
departure.  The  Nation,  itself,  was  convulsed  in  grief  at  the 
reception  of  the  sad  news. 

Memorial  services  for  the  late  Senator  were  held  in  Ottawa, 
at  which  I  was  present.  Orators,  Democratic  and  Republican, 
vied  with  each  other  in  expressions  of  the  high  esteem  and 
honor  in  which  the  illustrious  dead  was  held.  A  large  banner 
was  stretched  from  the  court-house  across  the  street,  bearing 
the  words :  "He  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth." 


148  Abraham  Lincoln 

Thus  lived  and  died  the  most  distinguished  citizen,  with 
one  exception,  of  his  native  state.  Peace  be  to  his  memory 
and  ashes. 

There  was  supposed,  at  the  time,  to  be  a  little  unwritten 
history  connecting  the  great  statesman  with  the  new  administra- 
tion. Eminent  men  at  the  Capital  were  free  to  express  their 
belief  that  President  Lincoln  was  about  to  offer,  or  had  offered 
the  judge,  a  major-general's  commission  in  the  army  for  the 
great  service  he  had  rendered  the  country  during  the  three 
months  preceding  his  death.  It  was  also  asserted  that  Douglas 
was  devoting  his  spare  time  in  the  assiduous  study  of  military 
tactics  preparatory  to  his  taking  command.  It  was  true  in  this 
case,  as  it  has  been  in  others,  that  "Man  proposes,  but  God 
disposes." 

Let  us  now  resume  the  subject  of  the  bombardment  of  Fort 
Sumter  and  its  surrender.  Under  the  old  administration  this 
fort  had  been  placed  in  command  of  Major  Anderson,  who 
was  supported  by  a  small  company  of  soldiers.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  confronted  with  grave  difficulties  from  this  direction  at 
once.  He  had  scarcely  been  inaugurated  before  receiving  a 
letter  from  the  major,  describing  the  perils  of  the  situation, 
and  remarking  that  in  his  opinion  it  would  require  a  force  of 
20,000  men  to  properly  reinforce  the  garrison  in  season  to  save 
him  and  his  brave  soldiers  from  starvation.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  the  Confederate  forces  had  been  busy  the  previous 
winter  in  planting  batteries  in  every  direction  around  the  fort, 
making  ingress  or  egress  practically  impossible  as  well  as 
extremely  dangerous. 

The  President  at  once  presented  the  matter  to  General  Scott, 
who  was  then  in  general  command  of  the  American  forces. 
The  general  apprised  the  President  that  the  government  did  not 
have  such  a  body  at  its  disposal,  neither  could  it  raise  them 
before  the  garrison  would  be  out  of  supplies.     The  President 


Policies  and  Hostilities  149 

was  thus  placed  in  a  sad  dilemma.  He  did  not  desire  to  pre- 
cipitate any  trouble  with  the  rebels  if  he  could  avoid  it,  for  in 
his  inaugural  address  he  had  informed  them  that  there  would 
be  no  war  unless  they  began  it.  He  and  General  Scott  did  not 
think  it  best  to  attempt  to  reinforce  Fort  Sumter  then,  but  did 
think  it  wise  to  reinforce  Fort  Pickens,  which  he  soon  pro- 
ceeded to  do. 

On  the  20th  of  March  an  aide  of  General  Scott  visited 
Charleston  and  had  an  interview  with  Governor  Pickens  and 
General  Beauregard,  with  reference,  it  was  said,  to  the  terms 
on  which  Fort  Sumter  should  be  evacuated,  if  evacuated  at 
all;  but  the  next  day  the  Cabinet,  after  a  lengthy  and  exciting 
session,  determined  that  Fort  Sumter  was  not  to  be  surren- 
dered without  a  struggle. 

A  few  days  later  a  confidential  agent  of  the  President  vis- 
ited Major  Anderson  and  was  apprised  by  him  that  their  scanty 
supply  of  provisions  would  not  last  the  garrison  for  a  period 
longer  than  the  middle  of  April.  The  government  soon  deter- 
mined to  send  the  needed  provisions  to  Major  Anderson; 
"peaceably  if  they  could,  forcibly  if  they  must."  Swift  ocean 
steamers  were  hurriedly  loaded  with  provisions,  munitions, 
etc.,  and  on  the  6th  of  April  left  New  York  and  other  Northern 
ports  for  the  South  under  sealed  orders.  At  the  same  time  a 
lieutenant  from  Fort  Sumter  arrived  in  Washington,  bearing 
a  message  from  Major  Anderson  that  his  supplies  of  fresh  food 
from  Charleston  had  been  cut  off  by  the  Confederates,  and  un- 
less he  was  soon  relieved,  would  be  starved  into  surrender. 

The  lieutenant  was  informed  that  their  needed  supplies 
would  soon  be  forthcoming  and,  hastening  back  to  Charleston, 
he  gave  formal  notice  to  Governor  Pickens  that  "the  fort  would 
be  provisioned  at  all  hazards."  Governor  Pickens  "got  busy," 
as  was  to  be  expected.  General  Beauregard  was  at  once  in- 
formed, and  he,  in  turn,  wired  the  facts  to  headquarters  at 


150  Abraham  Lincoln 

Montgomery,  Alabama,  and  asked  for  instructions.  The  Con- 
federates had  received  information  of  the  sailing  from  New 
York  of  the  food-laden  vessels,  and  were  desirous  of  getting 
possession  of  Fort  Sumter  before  their  arrival. 

On  April  10  General  Beauregard  received  orders  from  the 
Confederate  Secretary  of  War  "to  demand  the  prompt  surren- 
der of  the  fort,  and,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  reduce  it." 

The  demand  was  accordingly  made  in  due  form  the  same 
night,  at  2  a.  m.  on  April  11,  "and  courteously  declined." 

"But,"  according  to  Horace  Greeley's  statement,  "in  con- 
sequence of  additional  instructions  from  Montgomery,  based 
on  a  suggestion  of  Major  Anderson  to  his  summoners,  that 
he  would  very  soon  be  starved  out  if  not  relieved,  General 
Beauregard  at  11  a.  m.  again  addressed  Major  Anderson,  ask- 
ing him  to  state  at  what  time  he  would  evacuate  Fort  Sumter, 
if  unmolested."  The  Major's  reply  was  that  he  would  do  so 
at  noon  on  the  15th,  "should  I  not  receive,  prior  to  that  time, 
controlling  instructions  from  my  government,  or  additional 
supplies."  This  answer  was  unsatisfactory  to  the  Confederate 
general,  and  at  3:20  a.  m.,  of  the  12th,  Major  Anderson  was 
notified  that  "fire  would  be  opened  on  Fort  Sumter  in  one 
hour." 

One  writer  describes  the  bombardment  as  follows:  "Punc- 
tual to  the  appointed  moment,  the  roar  of  a  mortar  from  Sulli- 
van's Island,  quickly  followed  by  the  rushing  shriek  of  a  shell, 
gave  notice  to  the  world  that  the  era  of  compromise  and 
diplomacy  was  ended,  that  the  slave-holders'  Confederacy  had 
appealed  from  sterile  negotiations  to  the  'last  argument'  of  aris- 
tocracies as  well  as  kings."  The  same  writer  continues:  "Soon 
the  thunder  of  fifty  breech-loading  cannon,  in  one  grand  volley, 
followed  by  the  crashing  and  crumbling  of  brick,  stone  and 
mortar  around  and  above  them,  apprised  the  little  garrison 
that  their  stay  in  those  quarters  must  necessarily  be  short. 


Policies  and  Hostilities  151 

Unless  speedily  relieved  by  a  large  and  powerful  fleet,  such 
as  the  Union  did  not  then  possess,  the  defense  was,  from  the 
outset,  utterly  hopeless." 

Another  writer,  speaking  of  the  event,  says:  "The  rebel 
batteries  began  the  bombardment  on  Friday,  the  12th  of  April, 
at  half  past  four  in  the  morning.  The  major  took  it  with  the 
utmost  coolness,  and  made  every  preparation  for  the  safety 
of  his  men  before  he  allowed  any  return  fire  to  be  made,  then 
defiantly  ran  up  the  glorious  old  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  left 
the  enemy  to  bang  away,  while  he  made  preparations  for  break- 
fast. At  half  past  six  the  garrison  all  partook  of  this  meal, 
which  consisted  mostly  of  salt  pork,  as  leisurely  as  though 
nothing  was  the  matter.  After  breakfast  Major  Anderson  di- 
vided his  men  into  three  reliefs;  each  relief  was  to  work  four 
hours  at  a  time.  All  this  time  the  rebels  had  been  pouring 
shot  and  shell  into  the  fort."  ("The  Children's  Life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,"  M.  Louise  Putnam,  Page  139.)  In  a  half-hour  there- 
after, it  is  said,  the  garrison  was  ready  to  reply.  During  the 
following  four  hours  the  firing  was  kept  up  with  such  regular- 
ity and  rigidity  that  the  rebels  thought  the  major  must  have 
been  secretly  reinforced.  During  these  hours  the  scene  in  the 
fort  became  terrific  and  alarming.  The  shot  and  shells  from 
the  enemy's  guns  were  working  havoc.  The  hot  shot  soon  set 
everything  inflammable  on  fire,  nearly  suffocating  the  men  with 
the  smoke  and  heat,  and  incapacitating  them  for  effective  work. 
"Thirty-two  pounders  tore  up  the  ground  at  their  feet,  covering 
them  with  mud  and  earth,  and  a  ninety-six  pounder  came  burst- 
ing in  just  above  the  magazine."  During  the  first  day,  when  the 
heat  was  most  intense,  someone  discovered  through  the  port- 
holes several  of  the  vessels  of  the  fleet  beyond  the  bar,  which 
the  President  had  sent.  These  vessels  were  laden  with  provi- 
sions for  the  garrison,  but  the  commander  made  no  attempt  to 
supply  the  fort.    Had  he  done  so,  it  would  have  involved  a 


152  Abraham  Lincoln 

heavy  loss  of  life,  and  probably  to  no  purpose.  The  com- 
mander got  in  communication  with  Major  Anderson  by  signals, 
the  dipping  of  flags,  to  which  the  major  responded  by  the 
same  signal,  though  the  lives  of  his  men  were  greatly  im- 
periled in  the  performance  of  this  duty. 

It  is  said  the  commander  of  the  fleet  "remained  out  of  the 
range  of  the  enemy's  fire  till  after  the  surrender,  when  he 
returned  as  he  came."  On  Friday,  about  noon,  it  was  dis- 
covered that  all  the  cartridges  had  been  used  up.  Quickly, 
the  soldiers  stripped  off  their  shirt  sleeves,  tore  up  their  sheets 
and  blankets  and  began  to  make  cartridges  for  dear  life.  The 
bombardment  continued  with  unabated  intensity.  The  heat 
became  almost  unbearable,  the  soldiers  covering  their  mouths 
with  wet  cloths  and  throwing  themselves  on  the  ground,  faces 
downward,  in  order  to  breathe.  At  this  juncture,  Major  An- 
derson, fearing  the  possibility  of  his  magazines  being  sur- 
rounded with  flames,  gave  orders  that  the  powder,  ninety-six 
barrels  in  number,  should  be  rolled  into  the  sea.  This  was 
done  at  the  peril  of  the  men's  lives. 

This  unequal  contest  was  continued  for  thirty-four  hours. 
One  writer  describes  the  condition  of  the  fort  at  this  time,  as 
follows:  "But  few  cartridges  were  left,  and  the  guns  were  fired 
slowly;  nor  could  more  cartridges  be  made,  on  account  of  the 
sparks  flying  in  every  part  of  the  works.  A  gun  was  fired 
every  now  and  then,  only  to  let  the  fleet  and  the  people  of  the 
town  know  that  the  fort  had  not  been  silenced.  The  cannon- 
aders  could  not  see  to  aim,  much  less  where  they  hit." 

When  it  was  known  to  the  enemy  that  the  barracks  were 
on  fire,  the  batteries  directed  upon  Fort  Sumter  increased  their 
cannonading  to  a  rapidity  greater  than  had  been  attained  be- 
fore, it  was  said.  On  Saturday  afternoon,  the  second  day  of 
the  bombardment,  the  Confederates  were  satisfied  that  the  fire 
at  the  fort  was  only  maintained  as  a  matter  of  pride,  and  that 


Policies  and  Hostilities  153 

the  exhausted  garrison  had  all  and  more  than  they  could  do 
in  attempts  to  extinguish  the  flames  that  had  burned  their 
quarters.  At  this  juncture,  a  pretended  brigadier-general  of 
the  Confederacy,  L.  T.  Wigfall  by  name,  approached  the 
fortress  in  a  skiff;  and  on  his  arrival,  and  showing  himself  at 
an  embrasure,  he  waved  a  white  flag,  handkerchief  on  the  point 
of  his  sword,  and  demanded  a  surrender  of  the  fort.  After 
some  parley  with  a  lieutenant  and  corporal,  and  finally  with 
Major  Anderson,  by  all  of  whom  the  demand  was  denied, 
General  Wigfall  retired.  Shortly  he  was  succeeded  by  other 
representatives  from  General  Beauregard.  These  were  Ex- 
Senator  Chestnut,  Ex-Representative  Roger  A.  Pryor  and  W. 
Porcher  Miles.  They  made  the  same  demand  as  had  Wigfall. 
The  noble  Anderson  realized  the  futility  of  further  resistance, 
in  consequence  of  the  exhausted  condition  of  his  men  and  sup- 
plies, and  yielded  to  their  demand;  but  only  on  terms  that  he 
dictated,  viz.:  that  when  he  "evacuated  the  fort,  his  garrison 
should  retain  their  arms,  with  personal  and  company  property, 
and  march  out  with  the  honors  of  war,  and  be  conveyed  to  any 
port  in  loyal  states  he  might  indicate."  To  all  these  demands, 
General  Beauregard  readily  acceded.  Considering  the  hope- 
less condition  of  the  little  garrison,  these  terms  were  considered 
highly  honorable  to  Major  Anderson,  and  scarcely  less  so  to 
General  Beauregard. 

The  Confederates  were  disposed  to  make  satisfactory  con- 
cession, it  was  thought,  in  order,  not  only  to  stop  further  ex- 
penditure of  ammunition  at  the  earliest  moment,  but  to  obtain 
possession  of  the  coveted  fort  in  as  effective  a  state  as  possible. 
As  the  weary  soldiers  could  not  embark  that  night,  they  ex- 
tinguished the  fire  still  raging  and  laid  themselves  down  for 
much  needed  rest  till  morning. 

The  next  day,  the  Confederate  steamboat  Isabel  came  down 
to  take  them  off.    When  the  baggage,  consisting  of  all  company 


154  Abraham  Lincoln 

and  private  property,  had  been  removed,  the  gunners  pro- 
ceeded to  salute  their  dear  old  flag  with  fifty  guns;  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  being  lowered  with  cheers  as  the  last  gun  was 
fired.  Unfortunately  and  unhappily  at  the  firing  of  the  last 
gun,  a  premature  explosion  occurred  whereby  a  gunner  was 
killed,  and  a  few  seriously  injured.  This  was  the  sole  and 
only  death  at  the  fort  during  the  bombardment.  The  name 
of  this  hero  will  go  down  in  history  as  the  first,  I  think,  who 
sacrificed  his  life  on  the  altar  of  his  country  in  that  mighty 
civil  conflict.  No  loss  of  life,  I  understand,  occurred  among 
the  Confederates  during  the  entire  engagement. 

The  men  marched  out  of  the  fort  that  Sunday  afternoon 
"with  colors  flying  and  drums  beating"  and  were  taken  on 
board  the  Isabel,  and  shortly  transferred  to  the  Federal  steam- 
ship Baltic,  awaiting  them  off  the  bar,  and  thus  taken  to  New 
York,  whence  Major  Anderson  dispatched  to  his  Government 
this  brief  and  manly  report: 

Steamship  Baltic,  Off  Sandy  Hook, 
April  18th,  1861. 
The  Honorable  S.  Cameron, 
Secretary  of  War, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Sir:  Having  defended  Fort  Sumter  for  thirty-four 
hours,  until  the  quarters  were  entirely  burned,  the 
main  gates  destroyed,  the  gorge  wall  seriously  in- 
jured, the  magazines  surrounded  by  flames,  and  its 
door  closed  from  the  effects  of  the  heat,  four  barrels 
and  three  cartridges  of  powder  only  being  available, 
and  no  provisions  but  pork  remaining,  I  accepted 
terms  of  evacuation  offered  by  General  Beauregard, 
being  the  same  offered  by  him  on  the  11th  instant, 
prior  to  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  and  marched 


Policies  and  Hostilities  155 

out  of  the  fort  on  Sunday  afternoon,  the  14th  in- 
stant, with  colors  flying  and  drums  beating,  bring- 
ing away  company  and  private  property,  and  salut- 
ing my  flag  with  fifty  guns. 

Robert  Anderson, 
Major,  First  Artillery. 

Thus  began  and  closed  the  first  engagement  of  the  civil 
war — a  war  that  was  destined  to  last  for  four  years,  and  be- 
come, in  some  respects,  the  most  sanguine  conflict  of  modern 
times. 

Further,  it  may  be  said,  the  civil  war  entailed  a  loss  of 
life  from  all  causes,  on  the  Union  side  of  349,944,  and  on  the 
Confederate  side  of  perhaps  one-half  that  number,  though  no 
accurate  statistics  of  Southern  losses  are  available.  There 
were  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States,  2,778,304, 
and  about  600,000  into  the  Confederate  service. 

The  expenditure  in  money  by  the  United  States  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  war  exceeded  three  thousand  million  dol- 
lars, while  the  expense  or  cost  to  the  South  for  the  same  pur- 
pose must  have  been  neglible  in  comparison  therewith.  For, 
as  I  understand  it,  the  payment  of  their  bonds,  from  the  sale 
of  which  they  derived  funds  for  the  payment  of  their  war 
expenses,  was  repudiated. 

These  statistics  as  to  the  casualties  and  enlistments  of  the 
United  States  soldiers  are  taken  from  the  adjutant-general's 
office  at  Washington,  so  they  are  substantially  correct.  I  may 
allude  to  these  matters  again  before  this  narrative  closes.  I 
merely  speak  of  it  now  to  show  how  little  and  inadequate  was 
the  conception  of  the  people  in  '61,  as  to  the  magnitude  and 
character  of  the  great  crisis  that  was  just  before  them. 

Before  closing  the  account  of  the  reduction  of  Fort  Sum- 
ter, I  wish  to  speak  of  the  effect  the  news  of  its  surrender  had 


156  Abraham  Lincoln 

upon  the  minds  of  the  Southern  people.  As  soon  as  the  news 
was  flashed  to  different  sections  of  the  Confederate  states, 
thousands  came  flocking  into  Charleston  to  help  swell  the 
chorus  of  universal  rejoicing  over  the  fall  of  Sumter.  It  was 
said  that  "Charleston  herself  was  drunk  with  excitement  and 
joyous  exultation."  The  Confederates  had  spent  five  months 
in  the  careful  preparation  and  establishment  of  their  batteries 
around  and  adjacent  to  Sumter;  and  in  addition,  General 
Beauregard  had  a  force  of  7,000  men,  and  Major  Anderson 
only  70  (100  to  1),  yet  the  South  regarded  the  victory  as 
an  event  with  scarcely  a  parallel  in  all  the  annals  of  modern 
warfare. 

The  stock  of  General  Beauregard  went  up  about  a  thousand 
per  cent.  They  considered  his  victory  a  heroic  deed,  equal 
to  if  not  surpassing  the  military  achievements  of  Cyrus  or 
Xerxes,  Alexander  or  Hannibal,  Caesar  or  Napoleon.  They 
were  inspired  with  the  thought  that  the  subjugation  of  the 
entire  North  was  a  matter  of  short  effort  and  of  early  attain- 
ment; and  that  in  a  few  months  at  most  their  Confederacy 
would  be  established  on  a  solid  and  enduring  foundation,  with 
human  slavery  as  its  chief  corner  stone. 

How  chimerical  their  thoughts,  let  the  historian  record. 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Call  to  Arms 

When  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Sumter  was  flashed  over 
prairie  and  plain,  over  mountain  and  valley,  resound- 
ing through  and  dying  away  on  the  Pacific  slope,  a 
tempest  of  rage  and  indignation  swept  through  the  Nation,  the 
like  of  which  had  not  been  witnessed  in  America  since  the 
attack  on  Bunker  Hill  by  the  British  eighty-six  years  before. 
The  sentiment  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  North  had  been 
somewhat  sympathetic  towards  the  South  hitherto,  but  the  news 
of  the  insult  to  our  flag,  involved  in  the  bombardment  and 
reduction  of  Fort  Sumter,  unified  their  love  of  country  and 
evoked  the  "greatest  conceivable  outburst  of  patriotic  passion" 
everywhere. 

The  slogan  of  Judge  Douglas  that  "there  were  but  two 
parties  now,  one  for,  and  the  other  against  the  country,"  was 
enthusiastically  adopted  by  Democrats  and  Republicans  alike; 
and  young  men,  of  both  parties,  rallied  thereafter,  by  the 
thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands,  to  the  defense  of  their 
former  happy,  but  now  stricken,  country. 

On  Monday,  April  15,  1861,  the  day  following  the  evacua- 
tion of  Fort  Sumter,  President  Lincoln  issued  a  proclamation, 
announcing  that  the  laws  of  the  United  States  had  been  grossly 
violated  and  opposed,  and  the  proper  execution  thereof  so 
obstructed  in  the  seven  seceding  states,  naming  them,  "by  com- 
binations too  powerful  to  be  suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course 
of  judicial  procedure,"  he,  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
called  on  the  governors  of  the  various  states  of  the  Union  to 
furnish    militia    from    their    commonwealths,    amounting    to 


158  Abraham  Lincoln 

75,000  men,  which  he  thought  would  be  necessary  to  quell  the 
Southern  insurrection,  and  cause  the  laws  of  the  land  to  be 
properly  executed.  The  proclamation  was  received  in  the  free 
states  with  expressions  of  general  approval,  and  the  response 
from  the  governors  was  instantaneous  and  enthusiastic.  Nearly 
all  the  states  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  had  Republican 
governors  and  legislatures,  who,  one  writer  says,  "vied  with 
each  other  in  offers  of  men,  money,  munitions,  and  every- 
thing that  could  be  needed  to  vindicate  the  authority  and  main- 
tain the  integrity  of  the  Union." 

Governor  Sprague  of  Rhode  Island  who  was  elected  as  a 
"Conservative,"  though  generally  regarded  as  a  Democrat,  not 
only  filled  the  quota  required  of  him,  but,  it  is  said,  volunteered 
to  lead  it  to  Washington  or  wherever  his  services  might  be  re- 
quired. It  is  stated  further  that  no  state  responded  more 
quickly  and  thoroughly,  and  none  sent  her  troops  into  the  field 
more  completely  armed  and  equipped  than  did  Rhode  Island. 
An  incident  complimentary  to  the  patriotism  of  the  soldiery 
of  the  state,  and  rare  as  it  was  complimentary,  occurred  which 
is  worthy  of  record.  Among  the  privates  of  the  regiment,  was 
a  millionaire  who  had  made  arrangements  to  go  abroad,  but 
regarding  the  call  of  his  country  paramount  to  any  business 
or  pleasure,  cancelled  his  passenger  ticket,  and  quickly  en- 
rolled his  name  among  his  country's  defenders.  In  a  remark- 
ably short  time,  the  regiments  from  the  different  states  took 
their  departure  by  rail  for  Washington. 

The  quota  of  regiments  from  the  various  states  ran  from 
one  to  17,  Ohio  with  13,  Pennsylvania  with  16,  and  New  York 
with  17,  furnishing  the  largest  number.  All  went  well  till 
the  Sixth  Massachusetts  regiment  reached  Baltimore,  April 
19th.  There,  they  were  confronted  by  an  angry  mob  of  seces- 
sionists, wherein  four  soldiers  were  killed  and  17  severely 
wounded.      The   killed   were    left   behind,   but   the   wounded 


The  Call  to  Arms  159 

were  taken  on  to  Washington  with  their  regiment.  When  the 
wounded  were  taken  in  stretchers  from  the  cars  that  night,  a 
feeling  of  intense  and  frenzied  excitement  was  created  in  the 
Capital ;  and  when,  the  next  day,  news  of  the  dastardly  act  had 
been  flashed  to  all  sections  of  the  country,  a  storm  of  indigna- 
tion arose,  scarcely  less  intense  than  was  manifested  at  recep- 
tion of  the  news  of  Sumter's  fall. 

The  next  day,  quite  early,  a  delegation  of  Baltimore  citi- 
zens called  on  Lincoln  at  the  White  House.  They  came  to 
enter  a  protest  against  any  more  troops  being  brought  through 
their  city.  After  some  deliberation,  Mr.  Lincoln  dismissed 
them,  at  the  same  time  sending  a  note  to  the  Maryland  officials 
with  the  suggestion  that  troops  might  be  marched  around 
Baltimore.  The  President  made  a  passing  remark  to  the  dele- 
gation, as  they  withdrew,  to  the  effect  that  if  he  granted  them 
the  concession  demanded  they  would  be  back  the  next  day, 
demanding  that  none  should  be  marched  around  it:  Sure 
enough,  Lincoln's  anticipations  were  soon  verified.  That  after- 
noon, as  well  as  later,  committees  interviewed  the  President 
again,  protesting  and  declaring  that  "Maryland  soil  should 
not  be  polluted  by  the  feet  of  soldiers  marching  against  the 
South."  The  reply  of  the  Executive  was  brief  and  to  the  point. 
"We  must  have  troops,"  he  said,  "and  as  they  can  neither 
crawl  under  Maryland  nor  fly  over  it,  they  must  come  across 
it."  Subsequently,  a  few  secession  sympathizers  called  on  the 
President  and  informed  him  that  if  any  more  troops  should 
be  marched  through  Maryland,  75,000  persons  would  contest 
their  passage.  They  also  volunteered  the  suggestion  that  there 
should  be  a  cessation  of  hostilities  till  Congress  should  be 
assembled.  The  President's  reply  was  quite  laconic.  He  said 
that  there  would  be  no  cessation  of  hostilities  till  the  rebellion 
was  crushed,  and  he  presumed  there  was  room  enough  on  the 
soil  of  Maryland  to  bury  75,000  men.     That  was  the  last  he 


160  Abraham  Lincoln 

heard  of  Maryland's  protestations  to  the  President. 

On  the  20th  of  April,  one  day  after  the  Baltimore  riot, 
General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  commanding  the  Eighth  Massa- 
chusetts, arrived  at  Perryville,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Susque- 
hanna River,  about  fifty  miles  northeast  of  Baltimore.  Here 
he  found  his  course  obstructed  by  burned  bridges  and  the  lack 
of  cars  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  The  ingenuity  of  Gen- 
eral Butler  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  He  did  not  propose  to 
be  stopped  by  such  impediments  in  his  effort  to  reach  Wash- 
ington. Seeing  the  commodious  steamer,  Maryland,  near,  he 
commandeered  her,  embarked  his  soldiers  thereon  and  steamed 
down  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  arriving  at  Annapolis,  the  political 
capital  of  Maryland,  early  the  next  morning.  This  city  is 
about  thirty  miles  south  of  Baltimore  and  the  same  distance 
east  of  Washington. 

He  found  Annapolis  in  the  throes  of  rebellion,  and  the 
railroad  leading  to  the  National  Capital  dismantled  and  par- 
tially occupied  in  the  interests  of  secession.  Here  he  found 
the  old  frigate  "Constitution,"  and  without  a  crew.  It  was  in 
imminent  peril  of  capture  by  the  enemy.  The  valiant  general 
took  immediate  possession  of  the  frigate,  and  the  next  day 
landed  his  forces  unopposed,  and  took  possession  of  the  city. 

Here  he  was  soon  reinforced  by  the  Seventh  New  York 
regiment,  composed  of  the  flower  of  the  young  chivalry  of 
the  state.  They  had  been  transported  directly  from  Phila- 
delphia by  the  steamer  Boston.  As  the  citizens  of  Annapolis 
did  not  desire,  or  dare,  to  sell  anything  to  the  Union  soldiers, 
General  Butler  ordered  the  steamer  Maryland  to  return  to 
Perryville  for  the  needed  supplies,  for  munitions,  and  for  still 
further  reinforcements. 

Governor  Hicks  of  Maryland  sent  a  protest  to  General 
Butler  against  any  landing  at  that  place  or  any  other  in  the 
state,  his  reason  being  that  the  Legislature  had  been  called  to 


The  Call  to  Arms  161 

meet  at  Annapolis  that  week.  The  general  replied,  suggesting 
that  if  he  could  obtain  means  of  transportation  to  Washington, 
"he  would  gladly  vacate  the  Capital  prior  to  the  sitting  of  the 
Legislature,  and  not  be  under  the  painful  necessity  of  incom- 
moding your  beautiful  city  while  the  Legislature  is  in  ses- 
sion." Several  other  regiments  having  previously  arrived, 
General  Butler  on  the  24th  put  his  column  in  motion,  his  own 
regiment  in  advance,  and  the  New  York  Seventh  closely  fol- 
lowing. They  repaired  the  line  of  railroad  as  they  advanced. 
A  dismantled  engine  was  found  on  the  way,  which  they  quickly 
refitted  and  put  to  immediate  use. 

The  weather  was  intensely  hot  for  the  month  of  April,  and 
the  soldiers  were  hungry  and  faint  for  want  of  food  and  sleep, 
for  they  had  had  but  little  of  either  since  they  left  Philadelphia. 
No  food  was  available  by  purchase,  and  they  would  not  take 
it  without,  so  it  is  said,  they  marched  hungrily  on,  building 
bridges  and  laying  rails  by  turn,  throughout  the  day  and  fol- 
lowing night.  The  next  day,  they  were  joined  by  the  Seventy- 
first  New  York  regiment,  and  together  they  marched  to  the 
Annapolis  junction,  where  they  were  met  by  cars  from  Wash- 
ington. In  these  they  proceeded  on  the  25th  to  that  city,  the 
New  York  Seventh  being  in  advance.  Here  they  received  a 
royal  welcome  by  the  citizens  of  the  Capital  city,  only  one- 
half  of  whom,  it  was  said,  were  loyal  to  the  flag. 

The  arrival  of  these  soldiers  was  hailed  with  added  de- 
light, owing  to  the  fact  that  the  city,  for  a  week,  had  been 
isolated  from  the  North,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  malig- 
nant foes.  There  was  a  volunteer  force,  composed  mostly  of 
sojourners  temporarily  visiting  the  Capital,  under  Col.  Cas- 
sius  M.  Clay,  who  stood  on  guard  during  those  dark  days  and 
darker  nights. 

The  coming  of  these  volunteers  seemed  providential,  at 
least  very  opportune;  for  the  small  force  of  regulars  under 


162  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  command  of  General  Scott  had  constituted,  up  to  this 
time,  the  entire  defensive  strength  of  the  Nation's  Capital. 
When  the  governor  of  Maryland  heard  of  the  safe  arrival  of 
so  many  Union  troops  in  Washington,  and  also  learned  of 
the  Union  sentiment  of  citizens  in  the  northern  and  western 
parts  of  his  own  state,  where  there  were  but  few  blacks  held 
in  slavery,  he  modified  his  anti-Union  convictions  somewhat, 
and  so  wrote  to  his  Legislature.  The  members  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, while  largely  secessionists  in  sentiment,  consented  to  a 
modification  of  their  former  views  as  frequently  expressed,  by 
the  passage  of  a  resolution  that  Maryland  should  remain 
neutral  during  the  contest  between  the  two  sections  of  the 
country.  However,  they  added,  "We  sympathize  with  the  South 
in  the  struggle  for  their  rights,  for  the  sake  of  humanity,  we 
are  for  peace  and  reconciliation,  and  solemnly  protest  against 
this  war,  and  will  take  no  part  in  it."  Then  in  keeping  with 
the  motto  that  "a  man  convinced  against  his  will,  is  of  the 
same  opinion  still,"  they  proceeded  to  say,  to  their  eternal 
shame,  that  "Maryland  desires  and  consents  to  the  recognition 
of  the  independence  of  the  Confederate  states."  I  will  quote 
no  farther. 

It  is  said  that  the  secessionists,  in  and  around  Baltimore, 
especially  those  who  tried  to  dominate  public  sentiment  for 
the  South,  concealed  for  a  time,  the  paucity  of  their  numbers. 
It  was  ascertained  later  that  they  did  not  represent  one-third 
of  the  white  population  of  the  state,  and  less  than  one-fourth 
in  all  that  portion  of  the  state  lying  north  and  west  of  Balti- 
more. Home  guards  of  Unionists  were  formed  and  Union 
meetings  were  held  in  different  parts  of  the  state,  even  in 
Baltimore.  Thus  patriotic  sentiment  began  to  assert  itself, 
and  the  state  was  saved  to  the  Union.  This  was  accelerated  by 
the  bravery  of  General  Butler  and  his  valiant  cohorts,  as  I  will 
proceed  to  show. 


The  Call  to  Arms  163 

The  soldiers  in  and  around  Washington  became  restless 
and  anxious  for  the  fray,  especially  those  under  General  But- 
ler's command,  and  on  May  5,  the  general  pushed  forward 
two  regiments  from  Annapolis  junction  to  the  Relay  House, 
eight  or  ten  miles  southwest  of  Baltimore.  Thus  the  com- 
munication between  that  city  and  Fredericktown,  50  miles 
west,  was  soon  controlled. 

On  the  9th,  a  force  of  1300  men  from  Perryville  arrived 
at  Locust  Point,  Baltimore;  and  under  cover  of  guns  of  the 
Harriet  Lane,  quietly,  it  is  said,  began  to  open  the  railroad 
route  through  that  city  to  the  Relay  House,  and  thence  on  to 
Washington.  No  opposition  in  this  daring  undertaking  from 
the  erstwhile  bloody  Confederates  was  encountered. 

The  fiery  Baltimoreans  could  assail  the  defenseless  soldiers 
of  the  Massachusetts  regiment  with  deadly  effect,  but  when 
confronted  with  the  pointed  bayonets  of  the  boys  of  "Ben 
Butler  Bold,"  well — they  were  conspicuous  by  their  absence. 
They  had  retreated  to  a  nearby  and  safe  seclusion,  no  soldier 
following  them,  thus  illustrating  the  proverb  of  King  Solomon 
when  he  said :  "The  wicked  flee  when  no  man  pursueth."  Gen- 
eral Butler,  on  the  13th,  took  permanent  military  possession  of 
Baltimore,  without  opposition,  while  a  force  of  troops  from 
Harrisburg  advanced  to  Cockeyeville,  about  ten  miles  north  of 
Baltimore,  and  reopened  the  entire  line  of  the  Northern  Cen- 
tral railroad,  up  to  the  Pennsylvania  border. 

Thus  the  backbone  of  the  rebellion  in  the  state  of  Mary- 
land was  effectually  broken,  and  largely  through  the  un- 
daunted bravery  of  the  Massachusetts  general,  Butler. 

It  is  hardly  conceivable  and  believable  that,  within  so  short 
a  period  of  time  as  three  weeks,  Governor  Hicks  should  under- 
go such  a  change  in  sentiment;  but  such  was  the  case,  for  on 
the  14th  he  issued  a  proclamation  calling  for  four  regiments 
of  Maryland  volunteers,   in   response  to   President  Lincoln's 


164  Abraham  Lincoln 

requisition  for  troops.  All  communication  through  Baltimore 
and  Maryland,  and  also  through  the  free  states  to  Washington 
being  restored,  the  safety  of  the  Capital  was  now  assured. 

It  is  said  that  "regiment  after  regiment  poured  into  the 
city  by  almost  every  train,  until  by  the  end  of  May,  not  less 
than  50,000  men,  raw  and  undisciplined  indeed,  but  mainly  of 
the  best  material  for  soldiers,  held  the  line  of  the  Potomac,  or 
guarded  the  approaches  to  the  Capital." 

I  have  thus  written,  perhaps  at  too  great  length,  of  the 
Maryland  rebellion  to  show  the  difficulties  that  menaced  and 
confronted  the  administration  at  its  very  incipiency. 

At  the  time  of  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter,  the  conven- 
tion of  the  state  of  Virginia  was  in  session.  A  majority  of  the 
delegates  elected  thereto  were  Union  men.  But  the  news  of 
the  falling  of  Sumter  made  a  radical  change  of  sentiment.  If 
the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter  unified  the  sentiment  of  the  North, 
Union  sentiment,  it  also  unified  the  disunion  sentiment  of 
the  South.  In  the  convention,  many  of  the  Union  delegates, 
perhaps  a  majority  of  them,  went  over  to  the  original  dis- 
union minority,  and  on  the  17th,  passed  the  ordinance  with- 
drawing the  state  from  the  Union.  President  Lincoln,  in 
speaking  of  this  event,  stated  in  his  terse  way,  "Whether  this 
change  in  sentiment  was  wrought  by  their  great  approval  of 
the  assault  upon  Sumter,  or  by  their  great  resentment  at  the 
Government's  resistance  to  that  assault,  is  not  definitely 
known." 

In  order  to  give  character  and  legality  to  their  act,  in 
adopting  the  ordinance  of  secession,  the  convention  submitted 
it  to  a  popular  vote,  naming  the  23rd  of  May  as  the  day  for 
the  election.  On  the  day  following  the  submission  of  the 
ordinance  to  a  vote,  April  18,  the  Virginia  troops  marched 
to  Harper's  Ferry  and  seized  its  arsenal.  The  President,  in 
speaking  of  this  precipitous  movement,  informed  Congress  that 


The  Call  to  Arms  165 

"though  the  Virginia  convention  had  submitted  the  ordinance 
of  secession  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  to  be  taken  on  a  day 
nearly  a  month  in  the  future,  they  immediately  commenced 
acting  as  if  the  state  was  already  out  of  the  Union."  He  goes 
on  to  say  that  they  had  seized  the  arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry 
and  also  the  navy  yard  at  Norfolk.  He  further  states  that  they 
"received,  perhaps  invited,  large  bodies  of  troops  from  the  so- 
called  seceding  states."  The  state  proceeded  to  send  men  to 
the  Confederate  congress  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  and  finally 
secured  the  transfer  of  the  insurrectionary  government  to  their 
Capital  at  Richmond. 

Owing  to  the  magnitude  and  colossal  proportions  the  re- 
bellion was  now  assuming,  the  President  deemed  it  wise  to 
call  for  additional  troops,  both  for  defensive  and  aggressive 
warfare.  So  on  May  3  he  called  for  42,000  three-year  volun- 
teers and  18,000  seamen  to  the  navy  service.  This  demand 
was  quickly  responded  to. 

It  was  thought  by  many  that  the  President  was  induced  to 
make  this  additional  call  for  troops  so  early,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  a  deep-laid  plot  had  been  discovered  whereby  the 
secessionists  in  and  around  Washington,  "aided  by  Virginia, 
hoped  to  fire  the  city,  seize  the  President  and  cabinet,  and  all 
the  machinery  of  Government." 

Their  plans  were  quickly  and  easily  frustrated,  but  the 
President  was  not  disposed  to  take  additional  risks,  and  hence 
the  second  call  for  volunteers.  He  also  saw  the  necessity  for 
quick  action,  owing  to  the  fact  that  Jefferson  Davis  had 
answered  Mr.  Lincoln's  prior  call  for  75,000  men  by  a  procla- 
mation ordering  the  enlistment  of  100,000. 

On  July  4,  1861,  in  pursuance  to  President  Lincoln's 
proclamation,  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress  assembled.  The 
patriotic  enthusiasm  that  filled  and  thrilled  the  hearts  of 
loyal  citizens  everywhere  after  Sumter's  fall  was  still  at  flood 


166  Abraham  Lincoln 

tide.  The  members  of  Congress  were  animated  with  a  para- 
mount desire  to  aid  President  Lincoln  by  appropriate  legisla- 
tion in  every  way  possible,  to  the  end  that  the  incipient  re- 
bellion might  soon  be  squashed  and  order  restored,  if  pos- 
sible. They  were  not  insensible  to  the  fact,  however,  that  our 
forces  would  soon  be  confronted  by  an  enemy  in  every  way 
worthy  of  our  respect  as  to  valor,  and  that  the  conflict  might 
be  long  and  sanguinary.  The  early  hope  indulged  by  some, 
even  after  the  fall  of  Sumter,  that  the  South  might  discover 
their  gross  error  and  return  to  their  former  allegiance  to  our 
common  country,  was  now  dissipated. 

The  Confederates  entertained  the  belief,  evidently,  that  re- 
cent victories  in  Charleston  harbor,  at  Harper's  Ferry  and  at 
Norfolk  navy  yard  were  pre-ordained,  and  that  the  recognition 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy  by  the  North  would  be  a  matter 
of  early  attainment. 

The  members  of  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress  were  men  of 
exceptional  ability,  in  the  main,  possessing  large  experience 
in  statecraft.  The  free  states  had  the  unanimous  representation 
of  Republican  senators,  with  the  exception  of  five.  The  names 
of  the  more  prominent  of  these  Republican  senators,  with 
whose  public  history  I  am  quite  familiar,  I  will  here  record. 
They  were  Lyman  Trumball,  of  Illinois;  James  W.  Grimes  and 
James  Harlan,  of  Iowa,  very  able  men,  whom  I  have  seen  and 
heard;  James  H.  Lane,  of  Kansas;  Lott  M.  Morrill  and  Wil- 
liam Pitt  Fessenden,  of  Maine;  Charles  Sumner  and  Henry 
Wilson,  of  Massachusetts;  Zachariah  Chandler,  of  Michigan; 
John  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire;  Benj.  F.  Wade,  Salmon  P. 
Chase  and  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio;  Edward  D.  Baker,  of 
Oregon,  an  able,  eloquent  senator,  was  killed  in  battle,  Octo- 
ber 21st,  1861;  Simon  Cameron,  resigned  March  5th,  1861, 
David  Wilmot  succeeding  him,  of  Pennsylvania;  Andrew 
Johnson,   of  Tennessee,   afterward   President;    and   James  R. 


The  Call  to  Arms  167 

Doolittle  and  Timothy  0.  Howe,  of  Wisconsin.  Of  course, 
there  were  many  other  able  senators  in  that  Congress,  but  I 
did  not  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing  them,  politically. 

The  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  were  equally 
able  men,  and  largely  Republican  in  politics.  There  were 
many  Democratic  members,  and  a  few  old-line  Whigs.  All 
were  loyal  to  the  flag  and  supporters  of  the  administration, 
with  few  exceptions.  Many  of  these  men  became  noted  statesmen 
in  subsequent  years.  I  recall  the  names  of  such  representatives 
as  Elihu  B.  Washburn,  Owen  Lovejoy  and  John  A.  Logan,  of 
Illinois,  all  of  whom  I  had  the  happiness  of  seeing  (Wash- 
burn and  Logan  resigned  to  enter  the  army)  ;  William  S. 
Hollman,  George  W.  Julian,  Daniel  W.  Voorhees  and  Schuyler 
Colfax,  of  Indiana,  Julian  and  Colfax  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
hearing;  Samuel  R.  Curtis,  resigned  to  enter  the  army,  August 
4th,  '61;  Wm.  Vandever  and  James  F.  Wilson,  of  Iowa.  The 
latter  was  assisted  by  my  vote,  with  other  Republicans,  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  in  the  Iowa  Legislative  Assembly  of 
1882;  Samuel  C.  Fessenden  and  Thomas  A.  D.  Fessenden, 
brothers  of  William  Pitt  Fessenden;  and  Anson  P.  Morrill,  of 
Maine.  My  readers  will  observe  that  there  were  three  brothers 
in  this  Congress  from  the  same  state,  the  only  instance  of  this 
kind  in  the  history  of  our  Republic,  so  far  as  my  observation 
extends.  However,  there  were  father  and  son  in  the  same 
Congress  since  then,  as  I  recall.  Also  there  were  three  Wash- 
burn brothers  in  one  Congress,  but  from  different  states. 

Massachusetts  sent  an  entire  delegation  of  Republicans  to 
this  Congress,  eleven  in  number.  They  were,  doubtless,  men 
of  respectable  attainments  and  ability,  but  in  no  respect  noted 
as  was  their  illustrious  senator,  Charles  Sumner.  They  were: 
William  Windom,  of  Minnesota,  subsequently  United  States 
Senator  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  I  believe;  Francis  P. 
Blair,   of   Missouri;    William   A.   Wheeler,   afterwards   Vice- 


168  Abraham  Lincoln 

President;  Roscoe  Conkling,  Reuben  Fenton  and  Erastus 
Corning,  of  New  York;  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  Samuel  S. 
Cox,  called  Sun-set  Cox;  and  John  A.  Bingham,  subsequently 
a  renowned  statesman,  of  Ohio.  It  will  be  recalled  by  older 
readers  that  Lincoln  banished  Vallandigham  across  the  border 
to  the  Southern  Confederacy  for  his  treasonable  utterances. 
William  D.  Kelley,  Galusha  A.  Grow,  Speaker,  and  Thaddeus 
Stephens,  of  Pennsylvania.  Thaddeus  Stephens  was  a  man  of 
such  distinguished  ability  as  to  deserve  more  than  a  passing 
notice. 

James  G.  Blaine,  in  his  great  work,  "20  Years  in  Congress," 
speaks  of  him  thus:  "The  natural  leader,  who  assumed  his 
place  by  common  consent,  was  Thaddeus  Stephens,  a  man  of 
strong  peculiarities  of  character,  able,  trained  and  fearless. 
Born  in  Vermont,  and  educated  at  Dartmouth,  he  had  passed 
all  his  adult  years  in  Pennsylvania,  and  was  thoroughly  iden- 
tified with  the  state  which  he  served  with  distinction  both  in 
her  own  Legislature  and  in  Congress."  He  further  says:  "To 
one  great  object  of  his  life,  the  destruction  of  slavery  and  the 
elevation  of  the  slave,  he  was  supremely  devoted.  From  the 
pursuit  of  that  object  nothing  could  deflect  him.  Upon  no 
phase  of  it  would  he  listen  to  compromise.  He  was  learned  in 
law  and  for  a  third  of  a  century  had  held  high  rank  at  the 
bar  of  a  state  distinguished  for  great  lawyers." 

He  further  says,  "He  was  a  brilliant  talker  and  spoke  with 
ease  and  readiness.  Seldom,  even  in  the  most  careless  mo- 
ment, did  a  sentence  escape  his  lips  that  would  not  bear  the 
test  of  grammatical  and  rhetorical  criticism."  Mr.  Blaine 
states  further  that  Mr.  Stephens  "possessed  the  keenest  wit, 
and  was  unmerciful  in  its  use  towards  those  whom  he  did 
not  like."  His  further  characterization  of  the  great  statesman 
was  equally  complimentary,  but  too  lengthy  for  insertion 
herein.  (Extracts  are  given  by  special  permission  from  Funk 
&  Wagnalls  Co.,  Publishers,  New  York.) 


The  Call  to  Arms  169 

This  writer  was  a  great  admirer  of  Mr.  Stephens  and  his 
illustrious  career  in  Congress,  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago;  and  still 
remembers  some  of  his  witty  sayings.  Permit  a  couple  to 
suffice.  Mr.  Stephens  owned  some  mills  and  factories  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Ohio  River,  and  one  night  during  the  rebel- 
lion the  Confederates  crossed  over  and  destroyed  them.  When 
the  statesman  heard  of  his  loss,  he  smilingly  remarked,  "Now 
the  Rebs  have  burned  up  my  assets,  and  if  they  will  only  burn 
my  liabilities,  we  will  call  it  even." 

During  Mr.  Stephens'  later  years  in  Congress,  he  lost  the 
use  of  his  legs,  and  had  to  be  carried  or  assisted  up  the  steps 
of  the  Capitol  to  the  Legislative  Hall.  A  short  time  before  his 
death,  he  remarked  to  a  couple  of  Irishmen  who  were  carry- 
ing him,  saying:  "Boys,  what  will  I  do  after  you  two  are 
dead  and  gone?"  Peace  be  to  his  memory.  What  a  debt  of 
gratitude  the  nation  owes  to  such  patriots. 

Justin  S.  Morrill,  of  Vermont,  was  an  able,  trusted  states- 
man. John  S.  Carlisle,  of  Virginia,  was  a  loyal  member. 
There  were  several  delegates  from  the  various  territories,  from 
Colorado,  Dakota,  Nebraska,  Nevada,  New  Mexico,  Utah  and 
Washington.  But  of  their  delegates,  I  have  no  knowledge. 
I  think  they  were  loyal  to  the  Union.  It  is  pleasant  to  record 
that  all  of  the  above  named  territories,  seven  in  number,  are 
now  enrolled  among  the  sisterhood  of  states.  My  recital  of 
the  names  of  members  of  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress,  as  I 
recall  them,  is  closed.    I  only  wish  I  had  known  more  of  them. 

My  readers  will  remember  what  I  before  have  stated,  that 
I  only  speak  of  such  Congressmen  with  whose  public  career 
I  am  more  or  less  conversant.  There  was  one  man  in  that 
Congress  of  such  commanding  presence  and  ability  as  to  de- 
serve special  mention.  I  refer  to  Roscoe  Conkling  of  New 
York.  For  this  pleasant  duty,  I  will  delegate  a  man  whose 
versatility  and  power  of  illustration  are  far  beyond  my  ken, 


170  Abraham  Lincoln 

namely,  Mr.  Blaine.  In  speaking  of  Mr.  Conkling,  he  says: 
"The  ablest  and  most  brilliant  man  of  the  delegation  was 
Roscoe  Conkling.  He  had  been  elected  to  the  preceding  Con- 
gress when  but  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  and  had  exhibited  a 
readiness  and  eloquence  in  debate  that  placed  him  at  once  in 
the  front  rank.  His  command  of  language  was  remarkable. 
In  affluent  and  exuberant  diction,  Mr.  Conkling  was  never  sur- 
passed in  either  branch  of  Congress,  unless  perhaps,  by  Rufus 
Choate."  (By  special  permission  from  Funk  &  Wagnalls  Co., 
Publishers,  New  York.) 

I  wish  to  digress  here  somewhat,  hoping  not  to  get  too  far 
away  from  the  main  subject.  I  regard  the  above  tribute  to  the 
ability  and  brilliancy  of  Mr.  Conkling  a  most  beautiful  one, 
and  as  exceptional  as  it  is  beautiful,  when  all  facts  connected 
with  the  public  lives  of  these  great  statesmen  are  known,  or 
recalled. 

The  charming  characterization  of  the  New  York  statesman 
by  Mr.  Blaine  could  equally  have  been  stated,  or  nearly  so, 
of  the  man  from  Maine.  I  once  heard  him  speak  for  a  period 
of  two  hours,  with  forceful,  compelling  eloquence,  and  am  in 
a  position  to  know.  It  will  be  recalled  that  Mr.  Conkling  and 
Mr.  Blaine  entered  Congress  about  the  same  time  (Blaine  in 
'62) ,  and  remained  there  about  twenty  years.  They  were  always 
commanding  figures  in  both  houses  and  dictated  and  controlled 
legislation  to  a  large,  almost  unparalleled,  degree.  They  re- 
mained friends  for  many  years.  At  the  zenith  of  their  political 
influence  and  power,  an  estrangement  arose  between  them. 
The  cause  of  this  mutual  alienation  was  not  known,  at  least, 
to  this  writer.  One  day,  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  Mr.  Conkling 
made  a  severe  and  bitter  attack  on  Mr.  Blaine  and  the  position 
he  had  taken  on  some  public  measure,  and,  if  I  remember 
correctly,  assailed  his  motive  and  character.  The  next  morn- 
ing, Mr.  Blaine  replied  with  equal  bitterness,  mingled  with 


The  Call  to  Arms  171 

stinging  sarcasm.  He  compared  Mr.  Conkling  to  a  large 
turkey  gobbler  with  a  red  ribbon  around  his  neck  (Conkling 
always  wore  a  red  neck  tie),  strutting  around  and  running 
over  the  smaller  gobblers  and  fowls,  over  which  he  wished  to 
reign  supreme,  or  words  to  that  effect.  It  created  a  great 
sensation  in  Congress  and  among  the  people  as  well.  The 
unfortunate  and  regrettable  feature  of  this  estrangement  is  the 
fact  that  the  alienation  of  the  two  statesmen  remained  during 
the  remaining  period  of  their  lives.  All  efforts  of  friends  to 
effect  a  reconciliation  proved  abortive. 

Mr.  Blaine  sought  the  Republican  nomination  for  the 
presidency,  in  the  National  Convention,  three  times,  and  in 
the  last  ('84)  was  successful.  However,  he  was  defeated  by 
Grover  Cleveland,  as  older  readers  recall,  and  largely  owing 
to  Mr.  Conkling's  non-support.  Had  Mr.  Conkling  consented 
to  make  one  speech,  one  only,  in  New  York  for  Mr.  Blaine, 
the  latter's  election  would  have  been  assured  beyond  all  con- 
troversy. Mr.  Blaine  lost  New  York  by  a  small  margin  only, 
and  Mr.  Conkling's  great  influence  in  his  state  would  have 
carried  him  across.  "As  New  York  went,  so  went  the  nation" 
was  the  slogan,  and  it  was  generally  true.  Mr.  Blaine  was 
never  the  same  man  afterwards.  His  strength  and  ambition 
began  to  wane  thereafter,  though  he  was  Secretary  of  State 
during  President  Harrison's  administration,  1889  to  1892. 
He  also  wrote  his  "Twenty  Years  in  Congress"  (2  Vols.  1884- 
86) .  This  was  a  wonderful  contribution  to  the  political  his- 
tory of  our  Republic,  never  before  or  since  excelled,  if  ever 
equaled. 

Conkling  died  in  1888,  Blaine  in  1893,  neither  attaining 
the  goal  of  their  great  ambition,  the  presidency  of  the  United 
States. 

Now  to  the  subject  under  consideration.  The  Thirty-seventh 
Congress  was  composed  of  fifty  Senators  and  one  hundred  and 


172  Abraham  Lincoln 

seventy  Representatives.  The  withdrawal  of  the  South  had 
diminished  their  numbers  materially.  Kansas,  the  youngest 
state  in  the  Union,  was  represented  by  Martin  F.  Conway, 
fresh  from  the  border  field  of  conflict,  a  conflict  precipitated 
by  the  pro-slavery  element  from  Missouri.  The  organization 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  was  quickly  effected  by  the 
election  of  Galusha  A.  Grow  of  Pennsylvania  as  speaker.  The 
message  from  the  President  was  received  on  the  same  day. 

There  was  an  eagerness  and  some  anxiety  throughout  the 
country  as  to  the  views  of  President  Lincoln,  and  the  attitude 
he  would  assume  in  regard  to  the  unpleasant,  painful  situa- 
tion. All  had  read,  in  his  inaugural  address  of  a  few  months 
before,  the  tender  plea  to  the  South  to  ground  their  weapons 
of  the  initial  warfare  and  return  to  their  former  allegiance 
to  the  United  States.  He  had  said  directly,  as  well  as  by 
implication,  that  "we  are  friends  and  must  not  be  enemies," 
and  gave  similar  pronouncements  in  the  inaugural  speech  cal- 
culated to  effect  a  reconciliation;  but  to  no  purpose.  Since  the 
inaugural,  Sumter  had  fallen,  the  Norfolk  navy  yard,  as  well 
as  the  arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry  and  other  government  hold- 
ings had  been  taken  by  the  enemy,  and  the  people  were  quite 
eager  to  learn  what  the  President  would  now  say.  In  this  mes- 
sage he  maintained  a  moderation  of  tone  and  expression,  char- 
acteristic of  his  state  papers  on  most  all  occasions.  He  did  not 
purpose  to  call  the  attention  of  Congress  "to  any  ordinary  sub- 
ject of  legislation." 

In  his  judgment  there  were  in  this  emergency  but  two  things 
that  should  engage  the  attention  of  Congress;  and  that  was  to 
"provide  for  the  enlistment  of  an  army,  and  for  the  raising  of 
money  necessary  to  the  conduct  of  a  great  war."  He  recited 
the  progressive  steps  of  the  South  that  had  led  up  to  the  exist- 
ing unhappy  condition  of  affairs.  How  the  dock  yards,  arsenals, 
custom  houses,  etc.,  had  been  seized,  since  he  assumed  office. 
Many  other  treasonable  acts  were  recited. 


The  Call  to  Arms  173 

He  proceeded  to  say  that  seven  states  had  already  seceded 
from  the  Union  and  formed  "a  separate  government,  which  is 
already  invoking  recognition,  aid  and  intervention  from  for- 
eign powers."  In  view  of  this  situation  he  was  impelled  to 
move  at  once,  though  the  policy  he  had  chosen  when  he  had 
assumed  the  reins  of  government  was  to  exhaust  all  peaceful 
means  before  resorting  to  stronger  measures.  In  pursuing  this 
policy  of  peace  the  President  had  formerly  "sought  only  to 
hold  the  public  places  and  property,  not  already  wrested 
from  the  government,  and  to  collect  the  revenue,  relying  for 
the  rest  on  time,  discussion  and  the  ballot  box."  He  had  gone 
farther.  He  had  promised  "a  continuance  of  the  mails  at  gov- 
ernment expense  to  the  very  people  who  had  resisted  the  gov- 
ernment"; he  encouraged  a  consideration  of  that  mutual  for- 
bearance without  which  it  was  not  "possible  to  keep  the  gov- 
ernment on  foot." 

The  President  had  indulged  the  hope  that  Virginia  would 
remain  loyal  to  the  Union;  but  having  passed  the  ordinance 
of  secession  almost  simultaneously  with  the  fall  of  Sumter, 
thence  moving  to  the  destruction  of  government  property  be- 
fore the  ratification  to  the  ordinance,  from  the  people,  was 
secured,  and  also  obtaining  the  transfer  of  the  Confederate 
government  to  Richmond,  the  President  was  led  to  remark  as 
follows:  "The  people  of  Virginia  have  thus  allowed  this  giant 
insurrection  to  make  its  nest  within  its  borders,  and  this  gov- 
ernment has  no  choice  left  but  to  deal  with  it  where  it  finds 
it."  All  the  above  expressions  and  overtures  from  President 
Lincoln  to  the  South,  looking  to  a  possible  conciliation,  were 
wholly  ignored. 

They  were  also  indifferent,  blindly  so,  to  the  modest  threat 
the  President  had  made  that  he  might  be  compelled  "to  meet 
force  with  force."  There  was  only  one  course  now  that  the 
President  could  pursue;  that  was,  to  prepare  for  the  worst.  He 


174  Abraham  Lincoln 

had  gone  to  the  limit.  Every  peaceful  measure  that  prudence 
and  good  judgment  could  dictate  or  the  Constitution  would 
permit  had   been  exhausted. 

He  now  asks  of  Congress,  in  his  message,  to  place  "at  the 
control  of  the  government,  at  least  four  hundred  thousand 
men,  and  four  hundred  millions  of  money."  He  stated  that  the 
number  named  was  about  one-tenth  of  those  of  proper  age 
who  were  living  in  the  area  where  all  were  willing,  evidently, 
to  enlist,  and  that  the  sum  was  "less  than  a  twenty-third  part 
of  the  money  value  owned  by  men  who  seem  ready  to  devote 
the  whole." 

He  further  maintained  that  "a  debt  of  six  hundred  millions 
of  dollars  is  now  a  less  sum  per  head  than  the  debt  of  the 
Revolution  when  we  came  out  of  that  struggle,  and  the  money 
value  in  the  country  bears  even  a  greater  proportion  to  what 
it  was  then  than  does  the  population."  "Surely,"  he  added, 
"each  man  has  as  strong  a  motive  now  to  preserve  our  liberties 
as  each  had  then  to  establish  them." 

He  further  portrayed  the  unconstitutionality  and  utter 
fallacy  of  the  asserted  right  of  the  South  to  secede,  and  how 
the  "public  mind  of  their  citizens  had  been  drugged  and  insidi- 
ously debauched  for  thirty  years."  The  President  evidently 
had  in  mind  the  treasonable  acts  of  John  C.  Calhoun  and  the 
South  Carolina  Legislature  when  they  undertook,  about  thirty 
years  before,  to  nullify  the  newly  enacted  Federal  law,  refer- 
ring to  a  protective  tariff  on  certain  importations.  I  have 
alluded  to  this  in  a  previous  chapter. 

He  closed  his  message  with  the  assertion  that  it  was  "with 
the  deepest  regret  that  he  found  the  duty  of  employing  the 
war  power  of  the  government  forced  upon  him;"  but  he  "must 
perform  this  duty,  or  surrender  the  existence  of  the  govern- 
ment." 

The  President's  mail  had  been  flooded  and  his  mind  over- 


The  Call  to  Arms  175 

whelmed  by  every  conceivable  method  of  compromise,  and 
from  every  quarter.  To  all  such  propositions,  his  mind  was 
impervious,  and  to  each  of  such  requests  he  had  but  one  answer, 
that  "no  compromise  by  public  servants  could  in  this  case 
be  a  cure;  not  that  compromises  are  not  often  proper,  but  that 
no  popular  government  can  long  survive  a  marked  precedent 
that  those  who  carry  an  election  can  only  save  the  government 
from  immediate  destruction  by  giving  up  the  main  point  upon 
which  the  people  gave  the  election.  The  people  themselves, 
and  not  their  servants,  can  safely  reverse  their  own  deliberate 
decisions."  He  further  asserted  that  "as  a  private  citizen, 
the  Executive  could  not  have  consented  that  republican  institu- 
tions shall  perish;  much  less  could  he,  in  betrayal  of  so  vast 
and  so  sacred  a  trust  as  these  free  people  have  confided  to  him." 
His  concluding  words  to  Congress  were:  "Having  thus 
chosen  our  own  course  without  guile,  and  with  pure  purpose, 
let  us  renew  our  trust  in  God,  and  go  forward  without  fear, 
and  with  manly  hearts."  The  effect  of  this  illuminating,  com- 
prehensive message  on  the  minds  of  the  people  was  great  and 
productive  of  the  desired  results.  If  a  confirmation  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  President's  procedure  were  needed,  the  people 
were  now  reassured. 


CHAPTER  III. 
Campaigns  and  Leaders 

The  recommendations  of  the  President,  in  the  message, 
were  comprehensive,  and  under  its  inspiration  Congress 
proceeded  at  once  to  its  work.  In  compliance  with  Lin- 
coln's request,  no  legislation  was  considered  except  such  as 
pertained  to  the  war.  Congress  convened  on  July  4,  1861,  and 
both  Houses  adjourned  on  August  6,  twenty-nine  working  days 
altogether,  and  probably,  in  no  Congress  before  or  since,  was 
there  so  much  accomplished  in  so  short  a  period.  There  were 
seventy-six  public  measures  enacted  and  all  but  four  related 
to  the  war.  These  had  reference  to  the  mobilizing  and  equip- 
ment of  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  the  Union,  to  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  the  Nation's  credit,  to  the 
securing  and  appropriation  of  vast  sums  of  money  for  the 
successful  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  other  measures.  The 
reorganization  of  the  military  establishment  and  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  navy  were  included  in  the  acts  that  were  passed; 
as,  also,  was  the  revision  of  the  tariff,  the  levy  of  direct  taxes 
and  the  perfecting  of  loan-bills. 

The  sum  of  money  appropriated  for  the  army  and  navy 
was  not  as  large  as  was  requested  by  the  President,  in  his  mes- 
sage, but  doubtless  sufficient  for  their  needs  till  Congress  should 
convene  in  regular  session,  during  December  following.  How- 
ever, the  sum  thus  appropriated  was  two  hundred  and  seven 
millions  of  dollars  for  the  army  and  fifty-six  millions  for  the 
navy.  These  measures  fully  illustrate  the  patriotic  spirit  that 
animated  the  minds  of  the  Congressmen,  as  well  as  the  magni- 
tude and  character  of  the  work  accomplished. 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  177 

On  Sunday,  July  21,  1861,  just  seventeen  days  after  Con- 
gress had  convened,  and  sixteen  days  before  it  adjourned, 
occurred  the  first  great  battle  of  the  war,  at  Bull  Run,  about 
thirty  miles  southwest  of  Washington.  Previous  to  this  there 
had  been  several  sharp  skirmishes  and  minor  engagements 
between  the  contending  forces,  but  this  was  the  first  decisive 
battle  of  the  Rebellion.  Sad  to  relate,  and  unexpected  as  it 
was  sad,  the  Union  forces  met  with  a  signal  defeat.  Not  only 
this,  but  they  were  scattered  in  every  direction  and  fled  in  a 
panic  from  the  field.  By  nightfall  thousands  of  stragglers  were 
crossing  the  long  bridge  leading  to  Washington,  and  many 
thought  the  Capital  to  be  in  imminent  danger. 

Fortunately,  the  Confederates  did  not  deem  it  wise  to  pur- 
sue the  retreating  foe  with  a  view  of  taking  Washington,  for  it 
was  not  sufficiently  protected  to  repel  such  a  victorious  army. 
At  the  Bull  Run  battle  the  Union  loss  was  about  3000  men, 
while  that  of  the  Confederates  was  estimated  at  2000  men. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  was  advised  to  leave  the  White  House  with 
her  family,  for  a  safer  location,  but  this  she  declined  to  do, 
saying  that  as  long  as  Mr.  Lincoln  remained  there,  she  would 
not  forsake  him. 

General  McDowell  was  in  command  of  the  Union  forces 
at  the  battle,  and  the  Confederates  were  under  the  command 
of  Generals  Beauregard  and  J.  E.  Johnston.  The  former  lost 
twenty-seven  guns,  besides  an  immense  quantity  of  small  arms, 
ammunition,  stores,  provisions  and  accoutrements.  The  dark 
clouds  that  settled  at  that  time  on  the  already  sad  heart  and 
wrinkled  brow  of  the  noble  President  were  destined  to  remain 
there  during  the  entire  war  period  of  four  years,  even  up  to 
the  time  when  Grant  had  driven  Lee  to  Appomattox,  and  re- 
ceived from  the  conquered  hero  his  sword  and,  with  it,  the 
fall  of  the  Confederacy.  The  period  of  Lincoln's  rejoicing 
and  exaltation  was  brief,  but  sad  as  was  its  termination,  it 
ended  in  his  glorious  coronation. 


178  Abraham  Lincoln 

Referring  now  incidentally  to  General  McDowell's  over- 
whelming defeat  and  the  causes  that  led  thereto,  it  may  be 
said  that  if  General  Patterson  had  moved  his  forces  quickly 
to  the  aid  of  McDowell  or  had  intercepted  General  Johnston 
before  he  joined  Beauregard  at  Manassas  Junction,  as  was 
expected,  the  result  might  have  been  different.  All  will  parallel 
a  similar  incident  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo;  if  General  Grouchy 
had  joined  Napoleon  at  the  time  expected,  though  a  hail  storm 
prevented,  the  fate  of  Europe  might  have  been  different,  and 
Wellington  might  have  returned  to  England  a  defeated  com- 
mander. 

Referring  again  to  the  possible  cause  of  the  Bull  Run  de- 
feat, it  was  the  opinion  of  many  that  General  Winfield  Scott, 
who  was  then  the  commanding  general,  under  Lincoln,  of  the 
Union  forces,  was  remiss  in  duty  and  erroneous  in  judg- 
ment, on  the  day  of  the  conflict.  He  had  at  his  command  about 
25,000  troops,  in  and  around  Washington,  that  he  could  have 
easily  mobilized  and  sent  quickly  to  the  aid  of  McDowell,  as 
was  frequently  requested,  but  he  declined  so  to  do,  saying  the 
Union  forces  there  were  adequate  for  any  emergency.  The 
genius  of  the  great  general,  hitherto  evident,  was  now  lacking, 
and  he  was  soon  superseded. 

It  is  often  said  that  history  repeats  itself.  This  seems  to  be 
as  true  in  war  as  in  all  matters  of  human  endeavor.  In  a  little 
over  a  year  from  the  date  of  the  Bull  Run  battle,  on  August 
20,  1862,  another  battle  was  fought  at  the  same  place  and  by 
the  same  contending  forces.  The  Union  forces  were  commanded 
by  General  Pope,  and  the  Confederates  by  Generals  Lee,  Long- 
street  and  "Stonewall"  Jackson.  The  Union  forces  were  again 
defeated  and  with  a  much  heavier  loss.  This  day's  battle  and 
the  engagements  of  the  two  preceding  days,  in  and  around  Bull 
Run,  cost  the  Union  cause  about  20,000  men  in  killed,  wound- 
ed, missing  and  prisoners,  as  well  as  thirty  guns  and  30,000 
small  arms. 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  179 

Sad  as  is  this  picture,  my  readers  must  not  infer  that  the 
Confederates  were  uniformly  and  universally  victorious,  dur- 
ing the  interval  of  the  two  Bull  Run  battles,  for  such  was  not 
the  case.  General  Grant  and  his  brave  troops  had  achieved 
marvelous  victories  in  the  Southwest,  as  had  some  other  Union 
generals  during  that  period. 

I  desire  to  state  in  this  connection,  however,  that  it  is  not 
my  purpose  to  write  a  detailed  and  extended  history  of  the 
Civil  War;  as  that  would  be  foreign  to  and  beyond  the  scope 
of  my  original  thought.  Still  I  shall  aim  to  give  a  brief  account 
of  the  most  important  battles,  and  other  correlative  matter, 
incident  to  the  four-year  war  period. 

Following  the  successive  military  engagements  and  the  time 
of  their  occurrence,  I  wish  to  mention  that  of  Ball's  Bluff, 
which  took  place  October  21,  1861.  The  scene  of  this  engage- 
ment was  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Potomac  River,  about  thirty- 
three  miles  northwest  of  Washington.  The  Confederate  forces 
were  under  the  command  of  General  Evans,  and  those  of  the 
Union  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Edward  D.  Baker. 

The  battle  was  sanguinary  and  of  short  duration,  resulting 
in  the  defeat  of  the  Union  forces  and  the  death  of  the  noble 
Baker.  The  death  of  this  brave  officer,  who  fell  at  the  head  of 
his  command  in  the  vain  endeavor  to  pluck  victory  from  the 
jaws  of  imminent  defeat,  was  greatly  mourned  by  President 
Lincoln.  He  had  known  him  long  and  well.  They  were  col- 
leagues twenty  years  before  in  the  legislative  halls  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Baker  was  a  member  of  Congress  in  1844,  representing 
the  same  district  that  was  represented  two  years  following  by 
Lincoln.  Subsequently,  he  moved  to  Oregon,  and  by  this  state 
was  returned  to  Washington  as  a  United  States  Senator.  In 
the  upper  House,  as  formerly  in  the  lower  one,  he  soon  took 
a  commanding  position.     He  was  a  forceful,  eloquent  speaker 


180  Abraham  Lincoln 

and  very  much  beloved  by  his  senatorial  associates.  He  was 
present  at  Washington  to  greet  Lincoln  in  the  spring  of  '61, 
and  a  few  days  later,  at  the  latter's  inauguration,  introduced 
him  to  the  vast  audience  preceding  his  inaugural  address. 

In  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress  which  convened  in  extra  ses- 
sion, he  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  every  measure  advanced 
by  the  President  for  the  equipment  of  the  army  and  successful 
prosecution  of  the  war.  His  loyalty  to  the  Union  knew  no 
bounds,  and  he  soon  resigned  his  position  in  the  Senate  that 
he  might  the  more  effectually  assist  his  country  in  its  efforts 
to  suppress  the  rebellion.  He  quickly  raised  a  regiment  of 
volunteers  with  whom  he  marched  to  the  front,  leading  them 
into  the  thick  of  the  fight  that  terminated  his  mortal  career. 
Of  him  it  may  be  truthfully  said: 

"How  sleep  the  brave,  who  sink  to  rest, 
By  all  their  country's  wishes  blest." 

Following  the  defeat  of  the  Union  forces  at  Bull  Run,  the 
cause  of  and  the  responsibility  for,  being  laid  by  many  at  the 
general's  door,  the  great  soldier  thought  it  wise  to  retire.  He 
probably  saw,  what  others  knew,  that  at  his  advanced  age,  78, 
he  was  hardly  able  to  cope  with  the  new  situation,  and  while 
he  remained  nominally  as  the  chief  commander  till  the  end 
of  October,  '61,  he  was  practically  superseded  in  July  by  the 
formation  of  a  new  military  department,  the  Department  of  the 
Potomac,  which  General  George  B.  McClellan  was  invited  to 
command.  General  Scott  was  a  noted  warrior.  He  had  been 
in  the  military  department  of  the  government  since  and  before 
the  War  of  1812.  In  the  latter  war  he  was  an  active  partici- 
pant, and  as  lieutenant-colonel,  he  distinguished  himself  at 
Queenstown  Heights  and  elsewhere. 

During  the  period  between  this  and  the  Mexican  War,  some 
thirty-four  years,  he  rendered  his  country  valiant  services  in 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  181 

fighting  the  Chippewa  and  other  hostile  Indian  tribes,  which 
then  were  infesting  the  country.  In  1841  he  was  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  United  States  Army  and  remained  in  that  posi- 
tion till  his  retirement.  In  '46  and  '47  he  commanded  the 
Mexican  War,  and  after  reducing  Vera  Cruz  and  eight  other 
cities,  seized  and  held  the  City  of  Mexico.  At  West  Point,  in 
1866,  he  departed  this  life,  honored  by  the  grateful  country 
he  had  loved  and  served  so  well. 

On  July  26,  1861,  General  George  B.  McClellan  arrived  in 
Washington,  in  response  to  a  summons  from  the  President,  to 
take  command  of  the  Department  of  the  Potomac,  which  had 
been  recently  formed.  He  was  appointed  to  this  important  com- 
mand at  the  request  of  General  Scott,  under  whom  he  had 
served  in  the  Mexican  War,  as  captain.  A  few  months  previ- 
ously he  had  been  placed  in  command  of  the  Ohio  volunteers 
as  major-general,  and  this  new  appointment  at  Washington 
gave  him  practically  the  command  of  the  American  army.  Gen- 
eral Scott  was  doubtless  happy  to  be  relieved  of  the  great  re- 
sponsibility, which  he  was  hardly  able  longer  to  supervise. 

General  McClellan  was  comparatively  a  young  man,  35 
years  of  age,  and  a  graduate  of  West  Point.  After  the  Mexican 
War  he  resigned  his  commission,  as  I  understand,  and  became 
identified  with  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  as  civil  engineer, 
and  later  became  its  vice-president.  His  highest  military  com- 
mand, previous  to  the  Civil  War,  was  that  of  a  captain;  and 
his  elevation  to  the  high  rank  of  a  major-general  in  '61,  with 
no  intervening  military  experience  was,  in  the  minds  of  many, 
of  doubtful  propriety.  Instances  are  rare  indeed,  in  the  annals 
of  military  history,  where  an  officer  is  promoted  from  the  rank 
of  captain  to  that  of  a  major-general.  The  general  showed 
good  business  capacity,  for  within  a  few  days  following  his 
arrival  he  formed  the  army  into  brigades  and,  subsequently, 
these  brigades  were  formed  into  divisions,  and  these  into  army 
corps. 


182  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  military  outlook  in  and  around  Washington  was  not 
very  propitious.  General  McClellan  found  the  army  charged 
with  the  defense  of  the  capital  reduced  by  the  large  number 
recently  killed  and  wounded  in  the  Bull  Run  disaster,  as  well 
as  by  desertions  and  the  mustering  out  of  most  of  the  three 
months'  men.  There  were  only  about  50,000  infantry,  with 
one  regiment  of  cavalry,  and  650  artillerymen  remaining  for 
the  city's  defense.  Sorrow  and  dismay  settled  down  and  brood- 
ed over  the  country  like  a  funeral  pall,  incident  to  the  great 
disaster.  However,  people  of  the  loyal  North  soon  recovered 
from  the  shock  and  applied  themselves  persistently  to  the  rais- 
ing of  new  regiments  and  batteries,  by  means  of  which  the 
struggle  could  be  quickly  renewed  and  more  successfully 
prosecuted.  In  every  state,  in  all  the  cities,  towns  and  hamlets, 
the  work  of  recruiting  and  equipping  was  soon  begun  and  rap- 
idly prosecuted,  so  that  by  the  middle  of  the  fall  150,000 
young  men,  the  pride  and  hope  of  the  land,  had  enrolled  their 
names  among  their  country's  defenders,  and  started  for  Wash- 
ington. 

When  General  McClellan  found  himself  surrounded  by  this 
vast  company  of  soldiers  his  heart  must  have  swelled  with 
pride,  knowing  full  well  that  he  had  an  army  superior  in  num- 
bers and  intelligence  to  any  force  ever  led  in  battle  by  Napol- 
eon and,  as  one  expresses  it,  "by  far  the  largest  and  most 
effective  which  had  ever  been  seen  on  this  continent."  On  the 
first  of  January  following,  General  McClellan  had  a  force 
under  his  command  of  over  200,000  men. 

President  Lincoln  had  the  sympathy  and  hearty  cooperation 
of  the  loyal  governors  of  the  North,  under  whose  prompt  assist- 
ance the  large  body  of  volunteers  was  mustered  in,  equipped 
and  forwarded  to  the  United  States  Capital.  There  was  no  way 
of  determining  the  exact  number  of  the  enemy  confronting  us 
south  of  the  Potomac,  but  from  the  best  evidence  obtainable, 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  183 

from  deserters  and  contrabands  coming  within  our  lines,  the 
Confederate  forces  were  less  numerous  than  ours,  vastly  and 
necessarily  so.  This  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  up  to  this  date 
no  general  conscription  of  the  whites  had  been  resorted  to  in 
the  South,  and  the  number  of  volunteers  were  evidently  much 
less  than  ours.  The  deserters  aforesaid  did  not  place  their 
number  in  excess  of  60,000. 

In  addition  to  the  equipment  for  so  large  a  body  of  Union 
soldiers  as  above  enumerated,  we  had  two  hundred  field  guns 
of  the  best  quality  already  in  Virginia  ready  for  immediate 
service. 

During  the  late  summer  and  fall  much  time  was  devoted  to 
the  drilling  of  soldiers  and  instructing  them  in  the  manual  of 
arms.  This  was  essentially  necessary,  as  it  gave  them  the 
requisite  qualifications  for  effective  service  when  the  time  for 
active  participation  in  war  should  arrive.  Not  many  months 
had  elapsed  when,  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  the  officers  and 
men,  all  excepting  the  commanding  general^  the  time  was 
most  propitious  for  striking  the  enemy  an  effective  blow. 

General  McClellan  thought  otherwise.  His  attitude  from 
the  start  seemed  to  be  of  hesitation,  inactivity  and,  possibly, 
timidity.  The  months  of  summer,  autumn  and  early  winter 
wore  heavily  away,  "and  saw  nothing  attempted."  There  had 
been  a  short  and,  to  us,  disastrous  engagement  at  Ball's  Bluff, 
where  the  noble  Baker  lost  his  life,  and  also  light  skirmishing 
at  the  front,  but  nothing  approaching  a  decisive  battle  had 
occurred.  All  this  in  face  of  the  fact  that  there  were  200,000 
and  more  of  loyal,  well  equipped,  well  drilled  soldiers  within 
a  radius  of  thirty  or  forty  miles  of  Washington,  ready  and 
anxious  for  the  fray.  All  old  soldiers  will  agree  with  the 
writer  that  a  march  to  the  front  and  actual  participation  in  bat- 
tle is  preferable  always  to  the  lengthy  stagnation  of  camp  life. 

The  noble  President,  as  well  as  the  people  at  large,  was 


184  Abraham  Lincoln 

looking,  patiently,  hopefully,  for  a  forward  movement,  and 
possibly  a  military  conquest,  but  all  that  was  heard,  and  that 
through  the  press,  was  the  repeated  declaration  that  "all  was 
quiet  on  the  Potomac."  This  was  received  with  a  degree  of 
complacence  for  a  season,  but  after  its  repetition  for  months, 
its  meaning  was  changed  to  a  synonym  of  approbrium.  Some 
accused  General  McClellan,  perhaps  wrongfully,  of  being  pos- 
sessed of  constitutional  timidity  and  irresolution,  and  also  a 
natural  tendency  to  avoid  the  precipitation  of  a  great  war,  re- 
sulting, as  it  probably  would,  in  the  abolition  of  slavery,  which 
he  had  always  regarded  as  constitutional  and  right. 

He  may  also  have  thought  that  the  involvement  of  the 
Nation  in  a  war,  the  like  of  which  would  find  no  parallel,  prob- 
ably, in  all  the  pages  of  recorded  history,  would  result  in  the 
destruction  of  the  institutions  and  vast  resources  of  the  South, 
as  well  as  incurring  the  deadly  enmity  of  its  people,  whom  he 
regarded  hitherto  as  friends.  Thus  the  last  end  would  be  worse 
than  the  first. 

But  let  us  take  a  more  charitable  view  of  the  impulse  and 
desire  that  possibly  animated  the  breast  of  the  "young  Napol- 
eon." Let  us  do  this  at  least  for  argument's  sake.  The  high 
position  to  which  he  had  been  so  recently  and  suddenly  called, 
entailing  as  it  would  a  sense  of  exalted  responsibility,  may 
have  produced  a  conviction  that  by  postponing  the  conflict, 
some  unforeseen  circumstance,  such  as  a  foreign  war,  financial 
embarrassment  or  other  complication  might  arise  whereby  a 
compromise  between  the  belligerent  parties  could  be  effected, 
and  thus  all  war  be  avoided.  If  this  was  his  high  ambition  he 
was  reckoning  "without  his  host."  He  had  forgotten  the 
declaration  of  Robert  Tooms  and  other  Southern  Senators  that 
they  would  not  accept  the  Crittenden  resolution  or  any  other 
compromise,  "but  were  determined  to  destroy  this  rotten  gov- 
ernment."    He  also  should  have  known  that  the  subjugation 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  185 

of  Fort  Sumter  by  the  South  and  their  bloody  and  victorious 
battle  at  Bull  Run  in  July  previously  would  preclude  the  pos- 
sibility of  any  such  compromise. 

As  early  as  July  1,  '61,  the  War  Department  was  notified 
by  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  that  the  Potomac  would 
"soon  be  closed  by  the  batteries  of  the  Confederates,"  and  Sec- 
retary Gideon  Wells  reiterated  the  same  warning  on  August  20. 
The  Confederates  were  not  long  in  effecting  a  complete  obstruc- 
tion of  the  river  by  the  planting  therein  and  on  its  banks  of 
numerous  batteries.  The  navy  simply  desired  the  army  to  co- 
operate with  it  in  securing  the  unobstructed  navigation  of  the 
Potomac. 

At  last,  in  October,  General  McClellan  agreed  to  spare 
4000  men  to  thus  cooperate,  but  when  the  flotilla  assembled  at 
the  appointed  time  and  place,  the  troops  were  not  there.  The 
general's  excuse  was  that  his  engineers  were  of  the  opinion  that 
so  large  a  body  of  troops  could  not  be  landed  at  Mathias  Point, 
the  place  previously  agreed  upon.  Upon  assurance  by  the 
Navy  Department  that  they  would  attend  to  the  landing  of  the 
troops,  the  general  agreed  that  they  should  be  sent  on  the  fol- 
lowing night.  The  flotilla  was  in  readiness  again,  but  the  ex- 
pected troops  were  not  in  evidence,  neither  were  any  troops 
ever  sent  down  for  that  purpose.  General  McClellan  gave  as  a 
reason  that  he  feared  the  presence  of  troops  might  bring  on  a 
general  engagement.  When  a  commander  is  depressed  by  fear, 
rather  than  animated  by  bravery,  no  favorable  results  need 
be  expected. 

Thus  the  weary  weeks  and  months  wore  away,  and  nothing 
was  doing.  On  January  13,  '62,  the  Honorable  Edwin  M.  Stan- 
ton succeeded  General  Simon  Cameron,  as  Secretary  of  War. 
He  was  a  distinguished  lawyer,  possessing  great  will  power,  a 
Democrat  in  politics,  and  loyal  to  the  core.  Lincoln  and  the 
public   reposed   great   confidence   in   him   and   were   not   dis- 


186  Abraham  Lincoln 

appointed.  He  proved  a  veritable  Bismark  in  the  future  mili- 
tary activities  of  the  country.  President  Lincoln,  wearied,  if 
not  exasperated  by  the  long,  inexcusable,  unwarranted  delay, 
issued  a  ward  order,  two  weeks  thereafter,  January  27,  com- 
manding and  demanding  a  general  advance  movement  on  the 
enemy,  from  every  quarter,  on  the  22nd  of  February,  Wash- 
ington's birthday  anniversary. 

The  Secretary  of  War  (Stanton)  had  previously  urged  Gen- 
eral McClellan  to  move  actively  in  the  reopening  of  the  Balti- 
more &  Ohio  Railroad  and  in  removing  the  rebel  batteries  from 
the  banks  of  the  lower  Potomac.  The  Secretary's  early  and 
decisive  activities  doubtless  gave  added  impulse  to  the  Presi- 
dent, in  his  imperative  order  to  McClellan  to  move  almost  at 
once  on  the  enemy's  works.  General  McClellan  was  ordered 
by  the  President  to  move  southwestward  with  the  object  of 
seizing  and  occupying  a  point  on  the  railroad  not  far  from 
Manassas  Junction,  thence  onward  to  Richmond.  The  General 
had  previously  been  urged  to  proceed  to  effect  the  organization 
of  four  or  five  distinct  army  corps,  under  generals  of  his  own 
choice.  This  the  General  declined  to  do,  asserting  that  he 
wished  to  test  his  officers  as  division  commanders  in  actual 
service  before  thus  appointing  them.  President  Lincoln  knew 
quite  well  that  the  General  had  had  ample  time  for  this  but 
had  not  improved  his  opportunity. 

Finally  on  March  8,  the  President,  seeing  that  nothing  was 
being  accomplished  in  the  way  of  an  organization  by  General 
McClellan  as  he  had  been  directed,  proceeded  to  secure  the 
organization  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  under  general  war 
order  No.  2,  into  four  corps,  to  be  commanded  by  Generals 
McDowell,  Sumner,  Heintzelman  and  Keyes.  This  the  Presi- 
dent did  by  virtue  of  the  power  vested  in  him  by  the  Consti- 
tution, making  him  commander-in-chief  of  the  American  forces. 
To  this  peremptory  accomplishment  General  McClellan  seemed 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  187 

to  yield  a  willing  assent,  for  five  days  later  he  began  marshal- 
ing his  forces  for  an  advanced  move  on  Richmond. 

However,  he  disagreed  with  the  President  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  a  land  advance  to  the  Confederate  capital  from  the  north, 
but  preferred,  and  so  advised  the  Executive,  a  forward  move- 
ment on  Richmond  by  way  of  the  lower  Rappahannock,  land- 
ing at  Urbanna,  and  making  a  base  of  West  Point,  at  the  head 
of  York  River.  The  base  of  operations  was  subsequently 
changed  to  Fortress  Monroe. 

In  the  minds  of  the  President  and  many  generals  there  were 
serious  objections  to  the  adoption  of  the  water  route  instead  of 
the  overland  march  to  Richmond,  as  it  would  involve  the 
division  of  our  forces,  possibly,  and  leave  our  National  Capi- 
tal, with  its  vast  depots  of  arms,  munitions  and  provisions,  to 
the  mercy  of  the  Confederates.  Unquestionably,  the  destruc- 
tion of  everything  above  enumerated,  and  more,  would  be 
within  the  range  of  a  reasonable  probability,  if  our  grand  army 
were  transferred  bodily  to  the  base  of  the  Virginia  peninsula. 

The  President  finally  deferred  to  the  urgent  wish  and  glow- 
ing representations  of  General  McClellan  as  to  the  water 
route,  knowing  full  well,  however,  that  they  would  involve 
long  delay,  as  well  as  heavy  expense  in  securing  transportation 
by  water  for  so  large  a  body  of  men,  saying  nothing  about 
the  enormous  military  supplies  needed  for  the  equipment  of 
the  army  at  the  end  of  their  journey.  The  President  made 
one  condition,  namely,  that  a  sufficient  military  force  should 
be  left  at  or  near  Washington  to  properly  protect  the  Capital 
against  any  possible  invasion  of  the  enemy. 

The  duty  of  securing  the  means  of  transportation  of  men 
and  supplies  devolved  on  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  War.  To 
the  performance  of  this  duty  he  readily  applied  himself  and 
shortly  succeeded  in  chartering  389  steamers,  schooners  and 
barges  for  this  purpose;  and  within  about  thirty  days  from 


188  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  time  of  receiving  his  orders,  had  transported  from  Wash- 
ington, Alexandria  and  nearby  points,  down  the  Potomac  and 
Chesapeake  Bay  to  Fortress  Monroe,  over  121,000  men,  besides 
thousands  and  thousands  of  animals,  wagons,  ambulances,  bat- 
teries, pontoon  bridges,  telegraph  material  and  a  vast  quantity 
of  equipages.  The  number  of  troops  as  above  enumerated  was 
considered  sufficiently  large  to  cope  with  any  Confederate  force 
with  which  they  might  be  confronted,  in  and  around  Richmond. 

It  should  be  said  that  during  the  month  of  March  the  naval 
victory  of  Erikson's  Monitor  over  the  Merrimac  had  cleared 
the  Hampton  Roads  of  all  opposing  forces  and  made  naviga- 
tion of  the  James  and  York  rivers  possible. 

On  the  2nd  of  April,  '62,  General  McClellan  arrived  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  from  Washington.  At  this  time  the  General 
had  been  in  command  of  the  American  forces  about  eight 
months.  One  writer  says:  "In  November,  1861,  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  if  not  fully  supplied  with  all  the  material,  was 
yet  about  as  complete  in  numbers,  discipline  and  organization 
as  it  ever  became."  He  goes  on  further  to  say,  in  disparage- 
ment of  McClellan's  efforts,  through  the  previous  eight  months 
of  inactivity,  that  "more  than  any  other  wars,  rebellion  de- 
mands rapid  measures."  As  the  reverse  was  the  case,  he  evi- 
dently thought  that  the  military  achievements,  to  date,  of  the 
General  could  be  best  represented  by  the  generally  accepted 
meaning  of  the  word  "nix." 

Also,  the  future  laurels  that  encircled  the  brow  of  the  com- 
mander in  and  around  Richmond  failed  to  impress  the  mind  of 
the  great  Lincoln  and  others,  if  the  press  correctly  reflected  the 
sentiment  of  the  people.  However,  the  President  was  generous 
to  a  fault,  and  willing  to  "forget  and  forgive"  if  the  young 
general  would  try  and  redeem  himself  in  the  impending  cam- 
paign. 

On   his    arrival    at   Fortress   Monroe,   General   McClellan 


Campaigns  and  Leaders        189 

found  Yorktown,  located  a  short  distance  up  the  River  York, 
occupied  by  a  Confederate  force  of  12,000  to  15,000  men.  The 
noted  General  Magruder  was  in  command.  General  McClel- 
lan  took  measures  at  once  to  dispossess  him  of  his  strongly 
entrenched  position.  General  Heintzelman  and  General  Keyes, 
with  their  large  commands,  were  ordered  to  the  front,  but  soon 
brought  to  a  halt  by  fire  from  Confederate  batteries.  A  battle 
was  soon  precipitated,  and  our  men  being  reinforced  by  troops 
that  just  arrived  from  Alexandria  and  disembarked,  a  mighty 
struggle  ensued.  This  continued  around  Yorktown  and  Fort 
Magruder,  with  varying  results,  and  a  heavy  loss  on  both  sides 
for  about  a  month,  when  it  was  discovered  on  the  morning  of 
May  6,  Magruder  had  abandoned  his  works  the  previous  night 
and  retreated  up  the  Peninsula. 

A  vigorous  pursuit  of  the  flying  Confederates  was  ordered. 
General  George  D.  Stoneman  put  the  order  into  execution,  and 
with  a  force  of  four  regiments  and  some  cavalry  and  artillery 
followed  the  enemy,  but  they  soon  encountered  such  determined 
opposition  as  to  induce  the  belief  that  the  Confederates  in- 
tended to  dispute  every  step  to  Richmond.  The  Union  army 
was  reinforced  by  the  arrival  of  new  troops  from  West  Point 
and  elsewhere,  and  many  hotly  contested  engagements  with 
the  enemy  occurred,  with  severe  losses  on  both  sides. 

In  addition  to  the  severe  opposition  thus  encountered,  our 
march  towards  the  Confederate  Capital  was  so  impeded  by 
heavy  and  continued  rainfalls  that  General  McClellan  was  un- 
able to  reach  and  establish  headquarters  at  White  House  before 
the  16th  of  May.  On  the  19th  he  reached  Coal  Harbor.  This 
was  east  of  Richmond,  perhaps  twenty  miles.  Our  light  troops 
had  reached  Bottoms'  Bridge,  on  the  Chickahominy  River, 
southwest  of  the  Capital,  two  days  previous. 

The  first  collision  between  the  contending  forces  on  the 
Chickahominy  occurred  on  the  24th  of  May,  near  New  Bridge, 


190  Abraham  Lincoln 

where  we  assailed  and  drove  back  a  superior  Confederate  force, 
taking  a  number  of  prisoners.  The  Fifth  Army  was  ordered  by 
General  McClellan  to  proceed  by  way  of  Mechanicsville  to 
Hanover  Court  House,  to  facilitate  the  expected  arrival  of  Gen- 
eral McDowell  from  Fredericksburg.  Arriving  within  two  miles 
of  the  Court  House,  the  enemy  was  found  in  a  position  to 
impede  further  progress.  General  Porter  of  the  Fifth  Corps, 
being  reinforced  by  several  regiments  and  Berdan's  Sharp- 
shooters, charged  and  quickly  routed  the  enemy. 

On  his  arrival  at  the  Court  House,  General  Porter,  learning 
that  his  rear  was  attacked  by  a  large  Confederate  force,  turned 
his  whole  column  about  and,  chasing  the  enemy  through  the 
dense  forest,  completely  routed  them  again.  The  enemy  lost 
about  200  killed,  with  double  the  number  taken  prisoners,  as 
well  as  their  camp  at  the  Hanover  Court  House,  which  was  cap- 
tured and  destroyed  by  our  forces.  During  the  following  days 
General  Nagle  made  a  reconnoissance  towards  Richmond  and 
within  a  few  miles  of  the  James  River. 

On  the  28th,  General  Couch's  division  took  a  position  a  few 
miles  in  advance,  at  a  place  known  as  Seven  Pines.  Meantime, 
General  Casey  with  the  remaining  division  of  Keyes'  Corps, 
marched  to  and  encamped  at  a  station  known  as  Fair  Oaks, 
on  the  York  River  Railroad,  a  few  miles  east  of  Richmond. 
Heintzelman's  Third  Corps  crossed  after  Keyes  and  took  a  sta- 
tion in  his  rear.  Sumner's  Corps  was  still  north  of  the  Chicka- 
hominy,  a  short  distance  higher  up,  ready  to  cross  when  com- 
manded. General  McClellan  was  with  General  Fitz-John  Porter 
and  Franklin's  Corps  at  New  Bridge,  a  few  miles  north  of 
Fair  Oaks.  The  Confederate  forces  were  encamped  west  of 
Fair  Oaks,  east  of  Richmond,  and  in  close  proximity  to  Gen- 
eral Casey's  (Union)  division.  The  entire  Confederate  army 
defending  Richmond  was  estimated  to  be  some  40,000  or 
50,000  strong. 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  191 

On  May  31,  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  rebel  army,  learning  from  scouts  the  numbers 
and  disposition  of  Keyes'  corps,  saw  his  opportunity  and  de- 
cided to  improve  it.  At  1  p.  m.,  the  signal  was  given  the 
Confederate  general,  Hill,  to  advance  and  attack.  Casey's  divi- 
sion was  surprised  and  largely  outnumbered.  Owing  to  the 
short  time  the  Union  forces  had  occupied  this  new  position, 
their  defensive  works  were  of  little  worth.  General  Casey 
put  up  an  immediate  and  vigorous  defense,  but  when  the  regi- 
ments which  had  been  sent  to  the  front  in  support  of  his  pickets 
came  rushing  back  in  confusion  and  disorder,  having  lost 
heavily  by  the  Confederate  fire,  it  was  evident  that  he  would 
soon  be  overwhelmed.  Observing  the  enemy  surrounding  him 
on  both  sides,  General  Casey  ordered  General  Nagle  with  the 
remainder  of  his  decimated  brigade  to  charge  bayonets  and 
drive  them  back.  This  was  quickly  done,  but  at  a  fearful  loss, 
as  our  men  were  mowed  down  by  scores  and  hundreds. 

The  contending  forces  soon  marshaled  their  men  in  vast 
numbers  and  the  battle  was  on.  It  raged  in  unabated  fury  all 
the  afternoon,  even  until  nightfall  ended  the  bloody  carnage. 
At  this  late  hour,  the  enemy  was  driven  back  in  confusion 
under  a  bayonet  charge  from  Sumner's  division,  leaving  us  in 
undisputed  possession  of  the  ground  whereon  the  final  struggle 
was  made.  The  loss  on  both  sides  of  officers  and  men  was 
exceedingly  heavy. 

General  Joseph  Johnston,  the  Confederate  commander,  was 
badly  wounded,  having  been  struck  by  a  shell.  At  this  junc- 
ture, Jefferson  Davis  himself  led  one  of  the  charges,  the  last 
one  in  that  part  of  the  field.  The  next  morning,  June  1,  the 
enemy  renewed  the  struggle  under  Generals  Pickett  and  Pryor. 
General  French's  brigade  of  Sumner's  corps  opposed  their 
advance. 

For  a  while,  very  little  execution  was  witnessed  on  either 


192  Abraham  Lincoln 

side;  but  when  Mahone's  brigade  came  to  the  aid  of  General 
Pryor,  and  Howard's  to  that  of  General  French,  a  more  san- 
guinary conflict  was  maintained  for  several  hours,  when  the 
Confederates  desisted  and  retreated  unpursued.  In  the  engage- 
ment, General  0.  0.  Howard  lost  his  arm.  He  was  a  noble 
Christian  gentleman.  He  was  called  the  Havelock  of  the 
American  army.  This  writer  has  seen  him  several  times,  and 
once  heard  him  address  a  religious  assembly.  The  afore- 
named engagement,  it  should  be  said,  occurred  at  or  near  Fair 
Oaks.  Under  cover  of  the  following  night,  the  Confederates 
retired  to  Richmond.  The  estimated  loss  on  both  sides,  in 
killed,  wounded  and  missing,  was  about  7,000.  It  was  thought 
by  many  that  if  General  McClellan,  when  he  arrived  from 
New  Bridge,  had  brought  with  him  the  corps  of  Fitz-John 
Porter  and  Franklin,  the  Confederate  retreat  would  have  been 
prevented,  and  a  marvelous  victory  achieved. 

The  next  morning,  June  2nd,  General  Hooker,  by  order  of 
General  Heintzelman,  made  a  reconnoissance  towards  Rich- 
mond, advancing  to  within  four  miles  of  the  city,  meeting 
with  no  opposition  except  from  pickets.  When  General  Mc- 
Clellan heard  of  this  movement,  he  ordered  General  Hooker 
to  be  returned  to  Fair  Oaks. 

Many  censured  General  McClellan  for  his  hesitancy  at  this 
important  juncture.  General  J.  G.  Barnard,  in  his  report  of 
the  campaign,  says:  "The  repulse  of  the  rebels  at  Fair  Oaks 
should  have  been  taken  advantage  of.  It  was  one  of  those 
occasions  which,  if  not  seized,  do  not  repeat  themselves.  We 
now  know  the  state  of  disorganization  and  dismay  in  which 
the  rebel  army  retreated.  We  now  know  that  it  could  have 
been  followed  into  Richmond.  Had  it  been  so,  there  could 
have  been  no  resistance  to  overcome  to  bring  over  our  right 
wing."  He  goes  on  to  say  in  substance  that  when  the  Confed- 
erates struck  the  blow  at  our  right  wing,  they  exhausted  their 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  193 

resources,  and  struck  with  their  whole  force.  Still  we  repulsed 
them  in  disorder  with  three-fifths  of  ours.  We  should  have 
followed  them  up  at  the  same  time  that  we  brought  over  the 
other  two-fifths. 

General  McClellan  wrote  at  once  to  the  Secretary  of  War 
and  the  President,  reciting  the  facts  of  their  great  military 
achievement,  as  he  understood  it,  and  adding  that  in  the  event 
of  a  certain  contingency  arising,  he  might  wait  till  more  troops 
could  be  brought  up  from  Fortress  Monroe.  The  President 
replied  at  once,  agreeing  not  only  to  forward  troops  from  the 
said  fort,  but  would  send  five  regiments  from  Baltimore  by 
water,  and  McCall's  division  of  McDowell's  Corps  as  speedily 
as  possible.  This  pleased  General  McClellan  and  on  the  7th, 
he  sent  a  dispatch  to  Washington,  expressing  his  appreciation 
of  the  promise  of  early  reinforcements.  He  also  expressed  his 
"readiness  to  move  forward  and  take  Richmond  the  moment 
McCall  reaches  here  and  the  ground  will  admit  of  the  passage 
of  artillery."  Terrific  storms  had  prevailed  the  preceding 
days,  which  seriously  interfered  with,  if  not  entirely  prevent- 
ing, their  progress.  However,  these  conditions  did  not  exist, 
as  I  understand  it,  the  night  the  Confederate  forces  were  per- 
mitted to  fold  their  tents  and  quietly  slip  away  to  their  strong- 
holds at  Richmond. 

General  McCall's  division  arrived  by  water  on  June  12th 
and  13th.  On  the  14th,  General  McClellan  wired  the  War 
Department  that  "all  quiet  in  every  direction"  and  that  "the 
weather  is  now  very  favorable."  He  expressed  his  purpose  to 
advance  as  soon  as  the  bridges  were  completed,  but  wished  for 
more  troops. 

At  this  time,  General  McClellan  made  his  report  to  the 
office  of  the  Adjutant-General,  giving  as  his  strength  on  the 
peninsula,  troops  as  follows:  Present  for  duty,  115,102;  special 
duty,  sick  and  in  arrest,  12,225;  absent,  29,511— total  156,838. 


194  Abraham  Lincoln 

On  the  18th,  General  McClellan  wired  the  President  that 
"a  general  engagement  may  take  place  any  hour,"  and  further 
stated  that  "after  tomorrow,  we  shall  fight  the  rebel  army  as 
soon  as  Providence  will  permit."  Several  "after  tomorrows" 
passed  and  no  advance  by  our  general  and  his  army.  On  the 
24th,  a  deserter  from  the  enemy  was  brought  into  camp  and 
gave  his  version  of  the  position  of  Stonewall  Jackson,  and  that 
he  would  probably  come  in  from  the  north  with  the  intent  to 
turn  our  right  and  attack  our  rear  on  the  28th.  Such  news 
caused  some  hesitation  on  the  part  of  General  McClellan,  in 
all  probability.  However,  on  the  25th,  he  ordered  an  advance 
of  his  picket  line  on  the  left,  preparatory  to  a  general  for- 
ward movement,  and  during  the  day  other  corps  were  pushed 
forward  through  a  swamp  wood,  being  met  by  a  stubborn 
resistance  from  the  enemy  that  resulted  in  a  loss  on  our  side 
of  51  killed,  401  wounded  and  64  missing,  a  total  of  516. 

That  night  General  McClellan  telegraphed  the  President 
that,  from  contraband  information,  Jackson's  advance  was  at 
or  near  Hanover  Court  House,  and  that  Beauregard  had  ar- 
rived the  previous  day  in  Richmond  with  strong  reinforce- 
ments. He  entertained  the  belief  that  Jackson  would  attack 
both  his  right  and  rear.  He  expressed  his  conviction  that  by 
the  arrival  of  Jackson  and  Beauregard  the  Confederate  forces 
largely  outnumbered  his  own,  and  asked  for  additional  troops. 
The  President  quickly  replied  that  he  would  give  more  men 
if  he  could,  adding,  "I  have  omitted,  I  shall  omit,  no  oppor- 
tunity to  send  you  reinforcements  whenever  I  can." 

General  Robert  E.  Lee,  who  now  had  assumed  chief  com- 
mand of  the  Confederate  forces,  resolved  at  length  on  striking 
a  decisive  blow.  He  summoned  all  his  available  forces  and  cen- 
tered them  in  and  around  Richmond.  At  this  time,  the  entire 
Confederate  army  of  Virginia,  including  Jackson's  corps,  did 
not  exceed  70,000  men.  At  least,  this  was  the  estimate  made 
by  well-informed  writers. 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  195 

General  Lee  put  his  resolution  into  quick  execution  by 
ordering  Jackson  to  advance  and  attack  our  right,  and  hold 
Mechanicsville,  northwest  of  Richmond.  The  conflict  for  the 
ensuing  two  or  three  days  was  terrific,  with  alternate  victories 
and  defeats,  resulting  in  a  very  heavy  loss  of  life  on  both 
sides.  Finally,  on  the  27th,  just  before  sunset,  the  Confederates 
rallied  all  their  forces  for  a  last  desperate  effort,  and  stormed 
our  entrenchments  on  the  right  and  on  the  left,  driving  back 
our  men  with  fearful  carnage,  and  capturing  many  of  our  guns. 
At  this  juncture  a  battalion  of  Union  cavalry  came  to  our  res- 
cue, but  was  met  by  a  withering  fire  of  musketry  and  belching 
cannon,  resulting  in  a  rout;  the  frightened  horses  becoming 
unmanagable,  rushed  to  the  rear,  possibly  with  the  consent  of 
their  riders,  and  crashed  through  our  batteries.  General  Fitz- 
John  Porter  attributed  our  failure  to  hold  the  field  and  bring 
off  our  guns  and  wounded  to  this  unfortunate  incident.  Our 
losses  in  this  action,  it  was  said,  probably  exceeded  6,000  in 
killed  and  wounded. 

This  defeat  must  have  had  a  dispiriting  effect  on  the  mind 
of  the  commanding  general,  for  that  night  our  forces  were 
ordered  withdrawn,  unmolested,  across  the  Chickahominy 
River  to  the  south.  This  precipitous  action  was  possibly  in- 
duced by  the  added  news  that  part  of  our  forces  had  been  com- 
pletely enveloped  by  overwhelming  forces  of  the  enemy  and 
compelled  to  surrender.  In  the  minds  of  many,  this  retreat 
was  a  very  unwise  procedure.  An  eminent  writer  and  historian 
states  that  our  army  "was  still  more  than  100,000  strong; 
while,  save  in  the  imagination  of  McClellan,  there  were  not 
nearly  so  many  rebels  within  a  circuit  of  fifty  miles."  After 
General  Porter's  defeat  and  retreat  across  the  Chickahominy, 
General  Stewart  with  his  Confederate  cavalry  marched  towards 
White  House  on  the  branch  of  the  York  River,  arriving  there 
on  the  morning  of  June  29.  He  found  nothing  there  to  dispute 


196  Abraham  Lincoln 

his  possession  but  a  gunboat,  which  steamed  down  the  river 
quickly  in  quest  of  safety.  Large  quantities  of  government 
property,  including  nine  large  loaded  barges,  five  locomotives, 
a  vast  number  of  tents,  wagons,  cars,  etc.,  were  stored  there 
and  subjected  to  flames  before  our  forces  had  retreated. 

Generals  Stoneman  and  Emory  fearing,  doubtless,  the  early 
arrival  of  the  Confederate  forces,  fled  precipitously  with  their 
cavalry  down  the  Peninsula,  leaving  behind  large  quantities  of 
provisions,  forage,  etc.,  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
After  his  safe  arrival  on  the  south  side  of  the  Chickahominy, 
General  McClellan  "decided,"  it  seems,  "not  to  fight,  but  to 
fly,"  as  one  writer  puts  it.  Assembling  his  corps  commanders, 
he  informed  them  that  he  had  determined  on  a  flank  movement 
through  White  Oak  Swamp  to  the  James  River.  That  night  he 
moved  his  headquarters  to  Savages  Station,  just  east  of  Fair 
Oaks,  which  would  enable  him  the  more  effectually  to  super- 
intend the  movement  of  the  corps  and  trains.  The  vast  amount 
of  supplies  of  all  kinds,  including  largely  those  of  provisions 
and  munitions  that  could  not  be  removed,  was  consigned  to 
destruction. 

The  saddest  feature  of  the  whole  calamity,  as  I  look  at  it, 
was  the  fact  that  2500  of  our  noble,  wounded  boys  who  were 
unable  to  walk  were  left  behind.  No  ambulances  in  sufficient 
numbers  were  available,  so  they  were  left  in  hospital,  with 
surgeons  and  attendants,  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
General  Robert  E.  Lee,  it  was  said,  was  puzzled  concerning 
McClellan's  intentions,  and  doubtless  surprised  as  well,  when 
he  learned  that  the  latter  had  decided  to  abandon  his  position 
and  the  siege  without  a  battle.  This  southern  movement  of 
his  enemy  Lee  did  not  divine  till  late  in  the  afternoon  of  June 
28,  when  a  returning  detachment  of  his  cavalry  revealed  the 
fact.  When  Lee  fully  comprehended  our  movement,  that  is, 
of  retreat,  he  ordered  his  forces  to  pursue  and  attack  our  rear. 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  197 

On  the  morning  of  the  29th  we  were  attacked  by  a  small  force, 
but  the  enemy  was  easily  repulsed.  Later  in  the  day  Magruder 
attacked  us  in  full  force,  but  was  gallantly  repulsed  by  Gen- 
eral Burns'  brigade,  being  aided  by  BramwelPs  batteries,  which 
played  a  most  effective  part  in  the  struggle.  At  9  p.  m.  the 
enemy  withdrew,  having  gained  no  advantage. 

On  June  30,  McClellan  emerged  from  the  swamp  with 
about  one-third  of  his  army,  to  the  high,  open  ground  near 
Malvern  Hill.  This  was  south  of  Richmond,  on  the  James  River. 

About  noon  of  that  day  General  Longstreet,  at  the  head 
of  his  corps,  accompanied  by  General  Lee  and  Jefferson  Davis, 
ordered  an  advance.  A  very  sanguinary  engagement  ensued, 
lasting  all  the  afternoon,  and  on  till  9  p.  m.,  when  the  Con- 
federates were  driven  from  the  field.  The  loss  on  both  sides 
was  heavy.  One  writer  says  that  "Our  victorious  army  began 
at  once  to  evacuate,  by  order,  the  strong  position  wherein 
they  had  just  achieved  so  decided  and  bloody  a  success,  leaving 
their  dead  unburied  and  many  of  their  wounded  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy,  making  a  hurried  and  disorderly  night 
march,  over  roads  badly  overcrowded,  to  the  next  position 
selected  by  their  commander,  at  Harrison's  Bar,  seven  miles 
down  the  James." 

It  was  said  that  "even  Fitz-John  Porter's  devotion  to  his 
chief  was  temporarily  shaken  by  this  order,  which  elicited  his 
most  indignant  protest."  General  Joseph  Hooker,  "Fighting  Joe 
Hooker,"  expressed  his  conviction  that  after  their  great  victory 
at  Malvern,  they  could  have  gone  into  Richmond  without 
doubt;  but  instead  of  that,  they  were  ordered  to  fall  back  to 
Harrison's  Landing,  and  added:  "We  were  ordered  to  retreat; 
and  it  was  like  the  retreat  of  a  whipped  army.  We  retreated 
like  a  parcel  of  sheep." 

General  McClellan  reports  the  aggregate  losses  of  his  army, 
in  the  seven  days  fighting  and  retreating  from  "Mechanicsville 
to  Harrison's  Bar,  at  1,582  killed,  7,709  wounded,  and  5,958 


198  Abraham  Lincoln 

missing;  total,  15,249."  The  Confederates  did  not  give  an 
estimate  of  their  losses  in  these  engagements,  but  they  must 
have  been  nearly  as  great  as  those  of  our  own.  General  Lee 
did  not  care  to  follow  our  retreating  forces  to  Harrison's  Bar 
and  withdrew  to  Richmond,  leaving  a  brigade  of  cavalry  to 
watch  and  report  our  movements.  In  his  report  to  his  govern- 
ment, Lee  made  the  following  statement:  "The  siege  of  Rich- 
mond was  raised,  and  the  object  of  a  campaign  which  had 
been  prosecuted,  after  months  of  preparation,  at  an  enormous 
expenditure  of  men  and  money,  completely  frustrated.  More 
than  10,000  prisoners,  including  officers  of  rank,  52  pieces  of 
artillery,  and  upwards  of  35,000  stands  of  small  arms  were 
captured."  He  goes  on  to  state  that  our  forces  were  larger 
than  his,  and  also  our  losses,  and  concluded  by  saying  that 
"McClellan's  inaction  showed  in  what  condition  the  survivors 
reached  the  protection  to  which  they  fled." 

While  at  Harrison's  Bar,  McClellan  received  an  order  from 
General  Halleck,  who  was  then  in  command  of  the  American 
forces  under  recent  appointment,  and  who  saw  the  utter  futil- 
ity of  further  action  of  McClellan  in  his  present  condition,  to 
return  with  his  forces  to  Aquia  Creek  and  Alexandria.  This 
McClellan  proceeded  to  do,  though  somewhat  reluctantly.  He 
marched  his  men  to  Fortress  Monroe  and  embarked  to  Alex- 
andria and  other  points  south  of  Washington,  whence  they  had 
departed  a  few  months  before.  One  historian  writes:  "Thus 
ended  the  unfortunate  Peninsula  campaign  of  the  magnificent 
Army  of  the  Potomac,"  and  added  with  some  sarcasm,  I  think : 
"Never  before  did  an  army  so  constantly,  pressingly  need  to 
be  reinforced,  not  by  a  corps  but  by  a  leader;  not  by  men, 
but  by  a  man." 

Some  writers  compare  McClellan's  retirement  from  Rich- 
mond and  his  return  to  Washington,  to  Napoleon's  sad  retreat 
from  Moscow.  General  McClellan  claimed  all  along  that  his 
forces  were  not  sufficiently  strong  to  cope  with  those  of  Lee, 


Campaigns  and  Leaders  199 

while  others  assert  that  he  commanded  a  larger  army  in  that 
Peninsula  campaign  than  Napoleon  had  at  Austerlitz  when 
he  had  three  or  four  nations  at  his  feet,  suing  for  mercy. 

Lincoln  had  reposed  great  confidence  in  the  valor  and  skill 
of  his  commander,  and  this  sad  ending  of  a  campaign  which 
he  hoped  would  terminate  and  crush  the  rebellion  must  have 
saddened  the  President  almost  beyond  expression  and  nearly 
taken  his  life  as  well.  Also,  it  must  have  been  a  source  of 
inexpressible  chagrin  and  humiliation  to  the  proud  commander, 
likewise. 

All  could  now  see,  or  at  least  would  conclude,  that  the 
order  given  by  the  President  to  General  McClellan  in  advance, 
to  move  from  Manassas  to  Richmond  by  land,  instead  of  by 
water,  was  wise  in  its  conception;  at  least  it  would  not  have 
been  more  disastrous  in  its  execution  than  the  course  General 
McClellan  persisted  in  taking.  Some  may  have  censured  the 
President  in  placing  McClellan  in  so  high  command,  when  all 
the  previous  military  experience  McClellan  had  was  as  a  cap- 
tain in  the  Mexican  War.  He  was  then  fighting  a  weak,  ignorant 
people,  who  knew  but  little  about  modern  warfare,  of  whom 
it  might  be  said,  "One  could  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  put 
10,000  to  flight." 

George  B.  McClellan  had  been  a  successful  civil  engineer 
and  vice-president  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad;  but  not 
every  business  man  possesses  the  genius  for  successful  military 
achievement.  Some  generals  of  antiquity  and  a  few  of  modern 
times  possessed  this  genius,  including  Alexander  the  Great, 
Julius  Caesar,  Napoleon  and  Grant. 

Referring  to  the  campaign,  it  might  be  added  that  the  gen- 
eral impression  at  the  time  was  that  General  Lee  had  out- 
generaled McClellan  in  nearly  every  engagement  in  which  both 
had  participated.  However,  the  writer  concludes,  that  if  Gen- 
eral McClellan  did  the  best  he  could  under  all  circumstances, 
that  fact  should  disarm  much  of  the  criticism,  then  so  prevalent. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Difficulties  and  Victory 

In  July,  '62,  General  John  Pope  was  summoned  from  the 
West  by  President  Lincoln  to  take  command  of  a  force  to 
be  designated  the  Army  of  Virginia.  This  was  independent 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  was  under  the  command 
of  McClellan. 

Under  this  new  command  were  included  all  the  troops  in 
and  around  Washington  or  occupying  the  lower  end  of  the 
Shenandoah  Valley.  This  army  was  to  comprise  three  corps, 
under  Major-Generals  Fremont,  Banks  and  McDowell;  but 
General  Fremont  felt  a  little  piqued  over  the  assignment,  think- 
ing he  had  been  lowered  in  rank,  somewhat,  and  asked  to  be 
relieved.  This  was  granted,  and  General  Sigel  was  assigned 
to  his  command. 

This  newly-organized  army  numbered  about  50,000  men, 
and  was  located  at  different  points  from  Winchester,  across 
the  Shenandoah  River,  'way  down  to  Fredericksburg,  on  the 
Rappahannock. 

The  intention  of  General  Pope  at  first  was  to  advance  to 
the  neighborhood  of  Richmond,  with  a  view  of  aiding  McClel- 
lan in  his  operation  against  that  city.  But  he  learned  with 
surprise  that  Lee's  army  had  driven  General  McClellan  from 
Mechanicsville,  before  Richmond,  and  that  our  forces  were 
retreating  through  White  Oak  Swamp  to  Harrison's  Landing. 
General  Pope  wisely  desisted  from  further  movements  in  that 
direction,  knowing  that  he  was  in  no  condition  to  cope  with  so 
large  a  force  as  the  Confederates  had  around  their  Capital  city. 

General  Pope,  anxious  to  impede,  if  he  could  not  prevent, 


Difficulties  and  Victory  201 

the  march  of  Lee  and  his  army  from  Richmond  to  the  valley, 
ordered  General  King,  at  Fredericksburg,  to  push  forward 
detachments  of  his  cavalry  to  the  Virginia  Central  Railroad 
and  destroy  as  much  thereof  as  possible,  which  was  quickly 
effected.  General  Banks  was  also  ordered  to  advance  with  an 
infantry  brigade  and  his  cavalry  to  Culpepper  Court  House, 
thence  to  threaten  Gordonsville,  nearby.  But  one  day  before 
arriving  at  Gordonsville,  General  Richard  S.  Ewell,  with  a 
division  of  Lee's  army  from  Richmond,  had  reached  the  city, 
rendering  its  capture  by  our  army  improbable  if  not  impos- 
sible, General  Stonewall  Jackson  with  his  division  soon  joined 
Ewell's  forces  at  Gordonsville,  and  was  reinforced  by  a  divi- 
sion from  General  Hill's  corps,  increasing  his  fighting  strength 
to  about  25,000. 

General  Jackson,  who  now  was  probably  the  ablest  general 
in  Lee's  command,  saw  his  opportunity  and  resolved  to  improve 
it,  which  he  quickly  did  by  attacking  our  army  from  various 
quarters.  General  Banks  put  up  a  vigorous  defense,  but  as  he 
only  had  a  force  of  about  6,000  or  8,000  men,  and  had  to  cross 
open  fields  thoroughly  swept  by  Confederate  cannon  and 
musketry,  he  was  obliged  to  withdraw,  losing  about  2,000  men 
in  killed  and  wounded.  Jackson  claimed  to  have  taken  400 
prisoners  and  over  5000  small  arms,  only  sustaining  a  loss  of 
223  killed.  Our  generals  maintained  that  they  were  not  so 
much  beaten  as  fairly  crowded  off  the  field.  General  Jackson 
crossed  the  Rapidan,  on  his  retreat,  and  was  pursued  by  our 
cavalry.  General  Pope  advanced  with  his  infantry  to  a  point 
where  he  could  get  in  communication  with  the  enemy,  and 
after  some  skirmishing,  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
whole  Confederate  army  of  Virginia  was  assembling  to  over- 
whelm him.  A  letter  from  General  Lee  found  with  a  captured 
Confederate  adjutant  confirmed  that  conviction.  That  was 
August  15. 


202  Abraham  Lincoln 

Pope  held  his  position  for  several  days,  hoping  to  get  rein- 
forcements from  McClellan's  army,  which  was  in  and  around 
Alexandria,  but  receiving  none,  he  decided  on  the  18th  to  re- 
treat across  the  Rappahannock,  which  was  effected  without  loss 
in  two  days. 

The  Confederates  followed  sharply  with  their  cavalry,  but 
after  a  few  days  skirmishing  without  effect,  they  turned  their 
course  up  the  stream,  with  intent  in  a  short  time  to  turn  our 
right.  General  Pope  telegraphed  Washington  several  times, 
requesting  reinforcements,  saying  that  unless  he  soon  received 
them,  he  would  be  compelled  to  retreat.  On  the  21st,  he  was 
assured  that  if  he  could  hold  out  for  two  days  longer  he  would 
be  amply  strengthened,  in  which  event  he  could  assume  the 
offensive.  However,  up  to  the  25th,  only  7000  troops  had  ar- 
rived. At  this  time,  Pope's  army  proper,  exclusive  of  the  7000, 
did  not  exceed  40,000,  the  constant  marching  and  unsuccessful 
fighting  having  reduced  his  force  to  that  number.  The  arrival 
of  Heintzelman's  and  Porter's  corps  from  McClellan's  army 
ought  to  have  swelled  this  number  to  60,000,  but  unfortunately 
the  ammunition  and  equipment  of  these  corps  were  so  deficient 
that  their  efficiency  in  battle  was  greatly  reduced.  Other  rein- 
forcements had  been  promised  from  Washington  but  were  tardy 
in  coming.  It  was  supposed  that  General  Lee  had  at  this  time, 
nearly  his  whole  army  on  the  Rappahannock. 

While  General  Pope  was  placing  his  forces  at  Sulphur 
Springs,  Waterloo  and  other  strategic  points,  preparatory  for 
the  impending  conflict,  the  Confederate  general  stole  a  march 
on  him.  Lee  abandoned  the  idea  of  forcing  a  passage  of  that 
river  with  a  view  of  attacking  and  turning  our  right,  but  re- 
sorted to  another,  and  unexpected  movement,  which  showed 
his  great  resourcefulness  as  a  military  commander.  He  directed 
Stonewall  Jackson  to  cross  the  river  above  Waterloo  and  move 
around  our  army  and  strike  and  destroy  the  railroad  in  its 


Difficulties  and  Victory  203 

rear.  General  Longstreet  was  to  follow  and  menace  our  front, 
thus  engaging  Pope's  attention  till  Jackson  could  accomplish 
his  hazardous  undertaking.  General  Jackson  moved  rapidly 
across  the  river,  four  miles  above  Waterloo,  thence  marching 
to  and  encamping  at  Salem.  He  moved  early  next  morning, 
marching  southeasterly  to  Gainesville,  where  he  was  joined  by 
Stewart  with  two  brigades  of  cavalry.  Before  dark  he  struck 
the  Alexandria  Railroad  at  Bristow  Station. 

In  this  position  he  had  placed  himself  directly  between  the 
forces  of  Pope,  south  of  him,  and  the  latter's  base  at  Alex- 
andria or  Washington.  In  this  circuitous  route,  since  crossing 
the  Rappahannock,  the  Confederates  had  met  with  no  resist- 
ance. General  Pope  seems  to  have  been  mistaken  or  been  de- 
ceived as  to  the  position  of  the  enemy  in  its  rapid  march 
around  them,  though  our  cavalry  was  watching  their  move- 
ments along  the  river,  at  different  points.  Our  general  enter- 
tained the  impression  that  Lee's  army  was  moving  up  the 
river  with  the  Shenandoah  Valley  possibly  in  view,  with  ulti- 
mate designs  on  the  Potomac  or  beyond. 

Of  course  Lee  had  no  such  idea.  He  was  looking  for  imme- 
diate results.  After  arriving  at  Bristow  Station,  Jackson  dis- 
patched General  Trimble  and  an  ample  force,  with  orders  to 
attack  and  subdue,  at  all  hazards,  Manassas  Junction,  seven 
miles  up,  and  capture  the  vast  amount  of  stores  collected  there. 
This  command  was  quickly  executed,  the  charge  on  the  city 
being  made  about  midnight,  with  little  resistance,  and  a  large 
amount  of  commissary  stores  captured.  Our  small  guard,  con- 
sisting of  a  few  companies  and  a  battery,  was  seemingly  taken 
by  surprise. 

Besides  a  few  prisoners,  many  horses  and  tents,  ten  loco- 
motives, seven  trains  loaded  with  provisions,  and  immense 
quantities  of  quartermaster's  stores,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.    Brigadier-General  George  W.  Taylor,  having  heard  of 


204 


Abraham  Lincoln 


the  Manassas  invasion,  with  four  regiments  of  infantry  of 
Franklin's  division,  pushed  forward  eagerly  by  rail  from  Alex- 
andria, hoping  to  regain  the  lost  fight.  General  Jackson,  who 
as  usual,  took  time  by  the  forelock,  hastened  from  Bristow  with 
ten  brigades  and  twelve  batteries,  and  quickly  routed  Taylor, 
who  lost  a  leg  in  the  encounter,  and  remained  master  of  the 
situation. 

Pope,  astonished  beyond  measure,  awoke  now  to  a  realiza- 
tion of  his  condition.  He  had  that  morning  ordered  several 
divisions  to  move  rapidly  to  Gainesville,  fifteen  miles  west  of 
Manassas,  and  a  division  of  Heintzelman's  corps  to  move  on 
a  parallel  road  to  Greenwich,  while  Pope  himself,  with  Hook- 
er's division,  moved  directly  up  the  railroad  towards  Manassas. 

Porter  and  Banks,  when  the  latter  should  arrive  from  Fay- 
etteville,  were  to  march  to  Gainesville,  where  a  battle  was 
anticipated.  Arriving  at  Bristow  Junction,  General  Hooker 
encountered  Ewell's  division,  which  was  soon  overpowered  and 
put  to  flight,  the  latter  falling  back  on  Manassas,  under  the 
protection  of  General  Jackson.  Anticipating  an  attack  from 
Pope's  entire  army,  Jackson  wisely  withdrew  from  Manassas, 
moving  westward,  in  order  to  meet  Longstreet,  who  was  known 
to  be  approaching.  However,  before  evacuating,  Jackson  des- 
troyed thousands  of  barrels  of  provisions,  including  beef,  pork, 
bacon  and  flour.  His  army  needed  these  supplies  more  than 
did  ours,  but  was  unable  to  remove  them  and  so  destroyed  them. 

At  this  juncture  Pope  ordered  several  of  his  corps  and 
brigade  commanders  to  move  at  once  with  their  forces  to  Bris- 
tow and  Manassas.  Some  of  the  generals  were  slow  in  their 
movements  owing  to  the  late  hours  in  which  they  received 
their  orders. 

As  indicated,  Jackson,  who  was  never  caught  napping,  had 
evacuated  Manassas,  moving  westerly  and  thence  northerly  via 
Centerville,   thus   avoiding  the   destruction   which   may   have 


Difficulties  and  Victory  205 

awaited  him  had  he  sought  a  more  immediate  junction  with 
Longstreet.  Pope  ordered  a  movement  at  once  of  all  his  forces 
in  hand  towards  Centerville,  McDowell,  without  orders,  send- 
ing a  division  towards  Thoroughfare  Gap.  One  of  our  divisions 
arrived  at  Centerville  late  in  the  afternoon  and  occupied  the 
city  without  resistance.  Part  of  Jackson's  forces  had  just  re- 
treated towards  Sudley  Springs,  and  part  took  the  Warrenton 
turnpike  road  towards  Gainesville,  destroying,  in  their  retreat, 
the  bridges  over  Bull  Run  and  Cub  Run. 

At  6  p.  m.  (August  28)  Jackson's  advance  pushing  through 
Thoroughfare  Gap,  encountered  a  division  of  McDowell's  corps 
and  a  sanguinary  conflict  ensued,  terminated  only  by  nightfall. 
Both  sides  lost  heavily,  our  forces  having  been  worsted.  Pope, 
who  was  now  at  Centerville,  ordered  a  concentration  of  his 
forces  at  this  point  (Thoroughfare  Gap)  hoping  to  entrap 
Jackson  before  Longstreet  could  join  him.  In  this  he  reckoned 
without  his  opponent.  General  Longstreet's  advance  reached 
the  gap  at  3  p.  m.  and  was  delayed  somewhat  with  encounters 
with  our  force,  but  early  next  morning  he  joined  Jackson's 
army  near  Gainesville,  and  the  battle  was  soon  on.  It  raged 
with  terrific  force  for  two  or  three  days,  when  Pope,  being 
disappointed  in  his  expectation  to  overwhelm  Jackson  before 
Lee,  with  Longstreet,  could  come  to  his  aid,  and  discouraged 
over  the  fact  that  some  of  his  brigades  and  divisions  were 
tardy  in  coming  into  action,  and  that  Porter  failed  to  come 
in  altogether,  decided  to  order  a  retreat.  He  retreated  via  Cen- 
terville, crossing  Bull  Run  four  miles  from  that  city.  He  was 
opposed  somewhat  by  the  pursuing  enemy,  but  finally,  with 
his  whole  army,  reached  the  entrenchments  on  the  Potomac, 
south  of  Washington. 

Some  attributed  Pope's  failure  to  his  incapacity  as  a  com- 
manding general;  others  considered  his  disasters  justly  due 
to  the  failure,  possibly  unwillingness,  of  McClellan  to  send 


206  Abraham  Lincoln 

support,  which  Pope  so  much  needed  and  had  a  right  to  ex- 
pect. It  was  reported  that  when  General  Pope  took  command 
of  the  Army  of  Virginia  he  made  a  statement  in  his  address 
to  his  soldiers  that  reflected  on  McClellan,  who  then  was  suf- 
fering defeat  in  the  Peninsula  at  the  hands  of  General  Lee, 
and  that  General  McClellan  took  this  opportunity  to  resent 
the  criticism  by  refusing  to  send  men  and  supplies  to  Pope  in 
his  dire  need.  However,  General  Pope  disclaimed  any  such 
motive  in  his  address. 

In  his  report  of  the  campaign  General  Pope  corrects  a  mis- 
representation in  regard  to  the  support  he  had  received  from 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  "Reynolds'  division  of  Pennsyl- 
vania reserves,  about  2000,  joined  me  on  the  23rd  of  August 
at  Rappahannock  Station;  the  corps  of  Heintzelman  and  Por- 
ter, about  18,000  strong,  joined  me  on  the  26th  and  27th  of 
August,  at  Warrenton  Junction.  The  Pennsylvania  reserves 
under  Reynolds,  and  Heintzelman's  corps,  consisting  of  the 
divisions  of  Hooker  and  Kearny,  rendered  most  gallant  and 
efficient  service  in  all  the  operations  which  occurred  after  they 
had  reported  to  me.  Porter's  corps,  from  unnecessary  and 
unusual  delays,  and  frequent  and  flagrant  disregard  of  my 
orders,  took  no  part  whatever  except  in  the  action  of  the  30th 
of  August.  This  small  fraction  of  20,500  men  was  all  of  the 
91,000  veteran  troops  from  Harrison's  Landing  (near  Alex- 
andria) which  ever  drew  trigger  under  my  command,  or  in 
any  way  took  part  in  that  campaign." 

McClellan  claimed  that  he  needed  his  force  to  give  adequate 
protection  to  Washington  and  its  environment. 

General  Lee  claimed  in  his  report  that  during  his  campaign 
against  Pope  he  had  captured  more  than  7,000  prisoners,  be- 
sides 2,000  of  our  wounded;  30  pieces  of  artillery  and  20,000 
small  arms.  It  should  be  added  that  our  losses  in  railroad 
cars,   munitions,   camp   equipage   and    other   equipment   was 


Difficulties  and  Victory  207 

immense.  The  Confederates  claimed  that  their  losses  in  killed 
and  wounded,  from  the  23rd  to  the  30th  of  August,  inclusive, 
were  about  15,000  men.  It  was  thought  that  Pope's  losses,  in- 
cluding stragglers  who  never  rejoined  their  regiments,  must 
have  been  double  that  number.  Among  our  killed  was 
Fletcher  Webster,  son  of  the  great  Daniel.  From  this,  my 
readers  will  learn  something  about  "war's  desolation." 

This  writer  sympathizes  with  General  Pope,  but  the  un- 
biased reader  will  conclude,  probably,  that  as  with  McClellan, 
a  month  before,  so  now  with  Pope,  he  was  simply  outgeneraled 
by  the  military  genius  of  Generals  Robert  E.  Lee  and  Stone- 
wall Jackson. 

On  arriving  at  Washington,  General  Pope  resigned  his 
commission,  and  General  McClellan  was  invested  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  General  Halleck,  with  the  entire  control  of  the  forti- 
fications around  Washington,  and  "all  the  troops  for  the  de- 
fense of  the  Capital." 

McClellan  soon  ordered  a  concentration  of  his  forces  with- 
in the  defenses  of  Washington,  in  order  that  they  might  be 
fully  prepared  to  resist  and  repel  the  enemy  should  it  approach 
the  Capital.  Any  attempt  of  this  kind  was  foreign  to  the 
mind  of  Lee ;  for,  as  the  sequel  proved,  his  thought  was  already 
set  on  the  invasion  of  Maryland.  On  September  2  he  sent  one 
division  of  his  army  to  Leesburg,  with  orders  to  cross  the 
Potomac  and  march  to  Frederick.  On  the  5th,  Jackson  fol- 
lowed with  fourteen  brigades,  crossing  the  river  and  moving 
on  to  Frederick,  which  he  occupied  without  resistance.  General 
Lee  with  the  balance  of  his  army  followed  quickly  and,  arriv- 
ing at  Frederick,  issued  an  address  to  the  people  of  Maryland. 
In  this  he  appealed  to  their  patriotism  from  his  point  of  view, 
to  their  former  love  for  the  South  and  its  institutions,  and  in- 
dulged the  hope  that  they  would  ally  their  interests  and  des- 
tiny with  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  assist  in  its  triumph 
and  perpetuity. 


208  Abraham  Lincoln 

General  Lee's  appeal  had  little  or  no  effect,  for  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Maryland  had  proved  his  loyalty  to  the  Union  by 
sending  many  troops  to  the  front,  who  were  then  with  our 
forces  actively  participating  in  the  war.  His  army,  however, 
confiscated  many  horses,  cattle  and  supplies  of  various  kinds 
that  might  contribute  to  the  usefulness  and  efficiency  of  his 
soldiers,  and  sent  them  across  the  river  for  future  emergencies, 

When  General  McClellan  heard  of  the  movements  of  Lee 
and  his  forces  crossing  the  river  into  Maryland,  he  brought  his 
several  corps  across  the  Potomac  and  posted  them  north  of 
Washington.  When  he  left  the  city,  on  September  7,  he  moved 
slowly  up  the  Potomac,  leaving  General  Banks  in  command 
of  the  Capital,  fearing  a  possible  encounter  with  the  enemy. 
However,  they  met  with  no  opposition  until  they  arrived  at 
Frederick,  on  the  12th,  which  city  they  entered,  after  a  brisk 
skirmish;  the  main  body  of  the  Confederates  evacuated  it, 
moving  westward. 

General  McClellan  thought,  and  correctly  so,  that  the  Con- 
federate forces  would  turn  southward,  having  the  capture  of 
Harper's  Ferry  in  view.  General  McClellan  marched  his  troops 
in  that  direction  and  met  the  enemy  at  Maryland  Heights,  a 
favorable  position  commanding  the  fort.  A  vigorous  conflict 
ensued,  in  which  a  considerable  loss  was  sustained  on  both 
sides.  On  the  morning  of  the  15th,  at  daybreak,  the  Confeder- 
ate batteries  reopened  from  seven  most  favorable  and  com- 
manding points,  directing  their  aim  on  Bolivar  Height  prin- 
cipally. General  Miles,  who  was  in  command  of  the  fort,  with 
his  artillery  ammunition  exhausted,  or  nearly  so,  and  not  being 
able  to  secure  additional  supplies,  thought  it  best,  on  consulta- 
tion with  his  officers,  to  surrender,  and  so  raised  the  white  flag. 

A  capitulation  was  soon  agreed  to,  by  means  of  which  over 
11,000  men,  73  guns,  13,000  small  arms,  wagons,  tents  and 
camp  equipage  passed  over  to  the  enemy.    Their  victory,  how- 


Difficulties  and  Victory  209 

ever,  was  of  short  duration,  for  in  a  short  time  the  fort  was 
retaken  by  McClellan. 

General  Stonewall  Jackson,  who  always  appreciated  the 
value  of  time,  evidently  considered  the  capture  of  the  fort  of 
little  consequence,  in  anticipation  of  a  greater  victory;  for, 
not  waiting  to  receive  the  surrender,  leaving  that  to  another 
general,  he  hastened  north  to  join  Lee,  who  was  at  or  near 
Antietam.  By  a  forced  march,  day  and  night,  he  reached  his 
destination  the  next  morning,  the  16th.  Not  all  of  McClellan's 
forces  were  employed  in  the  defense  of  Harper's  Ferry;  for 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  General  Pleasanton,  with  his 
cavalry,  charged  and  routed  a  force  of  Confederate  cavalry 
near  Boonsborough.  Richardson's  division  followed,  and  after 
a  march  of  ten  or  twelve  miles,  discovered  a  large  force  of  Con- 
federates across  Antietam  Creek,  in  front  of  and  near  the  little 
town  of  Sharpsburg.  Richardson  halted  and  deployed  on  the 
right,  and  Sykes  with  his  division  on  the  left.  It  was  quite 
fortunate  that  General  McClellan  with  three  corps  came  up 
that  same  evening. 

Lee  had  chosen  a  strong  position  and  was  waiting  for  the 
arrival  of  Jackson,  Walker  and  McLaws  from  Harper's  Ferry, 
who  arrived  with  their  divisions  the  morning  of  the  16th. 
Every  hour's  delay  was  of  great  advantage  to  Lee,  enabling 
him  to  plant  his  batteries  in  the  most  advantageous  position. 
Many  think  that  McClellan  made  a  serious  mistake  in  not  at- 
tacking Lee  the  evening  of  his  arrival  or  early  next  morning; 
for  at  that  time  he  had  60,000  fresh  and  gallant  troops  to  hurl 
against  an  enemy  of  not  more  than  half  that  number.  This 
belief  is  based  on  the  supposition  of  what  might  have  occurred 
had  McClellan  struck  the  first  night  or  early  next  morning, 
before  Jackson,  Walker  and  others  with  their  divisions  had 
arrived  from  Harper's  Ferry.  On  the  16th  of  September,  the 
whole  of  Lee's  army  had  arrived  and  reported  for  duty,  except 


210  Abraham  Lincoln 

Hill's  division  which  was  left  at  the  ferry.  On  this  day  "the 
two  armies  faced  each  other  till  night,"  as  one  writer  states  it. 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th,  the  forces  on  both  sides  being 
in  battle  array,  our  columns  advanced  to  the  attack,  and  the 
mighty  conflict,  with  its  sad,  sad  significance  was  on. 

Then  followed,  for  two  days,  a  sanguinary  struggle  of 
almost  unparalleled  intensity,  not  to  say,  ferocity.  Darkness 
of  the  second  day  closed  the  dreadful  carnage.  The  loss  of 
life  on  both  sides  was  appalling.  One  writer  describes  it  thus: 
"So  closed,  indecisively,  the  bloodiest  day,  America  ever  saw." 
General  Lee  did  not  care  to  renew  the  battle  next  morning, 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  previous  day's  fatality,  and  stole  away 
during  the  night  and  moved  across  the  Potomac,  leaving  be- 
hind his  dead,  2,700,  to  be  buried  by  us,  and  2,000  of  his 
seriously  wounded." 

Our  entire  loss  in  this  battle,  according  to  General  Mc- 
Clellan's  statement,  was  12,469,  2,010  being  killed;  9,416, 
wounded;  and  1,043,  missing.  The  aggregate  loss  of  Lee's 
forces,  as  given  in  a  subsequent  report,  by  the  general  himself, 
was  about  1,000  greater.  McClellan's  strength  in  this  battle, 
as  given  by  himself,  was  87,164,  and  he  estimated  Lee's  strength 
as  97,445.  Lee,  however,  claims  that  he  had  less  than  40,000 
men,  which  evidently  did  not  include  some  of  his  cavalry  and 
one  of  his  divisions.  Pollard,  in  his  history  of  the  war,  says 
that  Lee,  in  this  battle,  for  the  last  half  day,  did  not  have 
more  than  an  aggregate  of  70,000  men. 

In  Lee's  retreat,  he  left  a  small  force  at  the  Potomac  which 
was  soon  dispersed  by  our  advance  guard.  He  then  moved 
westward  to  a  creek  near  Martinsburg,  where  he  rested  for  a 
short  time  and  then  retired  southward  to  Winchester,  west  of 
the  Shenandoah  River.  Seeing  he  was  not  pursued  nor  im- 
perilled by  McClellan,  as  he  anticipated,  Lee  sent  a  division 
of  his  cavalry  on  a  bold  raid  across  the  Potomac,  up  into 


Difficulties  and  Victory  211 

Pennsylvania,  where  he  took  Chambersburg,  and  captured  a 
large  amount  of  army  supplies,  including  clothing  and  mus- 
kets. The  stay  of  the  Confedrate  cavalry  was  brief,  and  re- 
crossing  the  Potomac  below  Harper's  Ferry,  unmolested  by 
McClellan,  they  rejoined  the  main  army  at  the  said  city  of 
Winchester. 

General  McClellan  sent  forward  troops  to  retake  Maryland 
Heights,  which,  without  opposition,  they  did  on  the  20th,  and 
two  days  later  Harper's  Ferry  was  occupied  by  our  forces. 

There  were  general  manifestations  of  joy  with  the  admin- 
istration and  people  at  large  over  this  Antietam  victory;  for 
it  was  the  first  victory,  first  one  of  note,  achieved  by  McClellan 
since  his  appointment  as  major-general  some  fourteen  months 
before.  But  now  he  assumed  an  attitude  of  inactivity,  char- 
acteristic of  his  early  military  history  when  he  held  the  large 
Union  forces  in  and  around  Washington  so  long.  He  was 
blamed  by  many  for  not  following  up  Lee  in  his  retreat  and 
reaping  the  fruits  of  his  victory. 

At  this  juncture,  he  had  a  controversy  with  the  War  De- 
partment and  Administration,  similar  to  the  one  he  had  had  in 
the  Peninsula  campaign,  as  to  the  need  of  reinforcements, 
horses,  clothing,  shoes  and  equipment  generally,  and  concern- 
ing which  the  Administration  differed  with  him,  asserting  that 
abundant  supplies  had  been  furnished  him.  McClellan  was 
urged  to  move  on  the  works  of  Lee;  and  finally  he  was  per- 
emptorily ordered  by  Halleck  to  do  so.  This  order  was  made 
on  the  6th  of  October,  at  which  time,  according  to  testimony 
of  Quartermaster-General  Meigs,  a  most  honorable  and  ac- 
complished officer,  "the  army  of  the  Potomac  was  thoroughly 
and  completely  equipped."  McClellan  was  very  slow  and 
probably  reluctant  in  obeying  the  order;  for  it  was  nearly  six 
weeks  after  the  battle  before  he  crossed  the  Potomac  and  took 
his  march  southward,  moving,  as  he  did,  unopposed  down  the 


212  Abraham  Lincoln 

east  side  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  till  he  arrived  at  Snick- 
ers Gap  and  Manassas;  and  then  advanced  to  Warrenton.  In 
the  meantime,  Lee  with  his  army  moved  on  parallel  lines  south- 
ward down  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 

At  Warrenton,  General  McClellan  was  relieved  of  his  com- 
mand, General  Burnside  succeeding  him.  The  reason  for  this 
unexpected  order  was  not  given;  hut  if  it  had,  it  probably 
would  have  been  an  assertion  from  the  President  of  the  utter 
impossibility  of  the  War  Department  and  General  McClellan 
working  harmoniously  in  the  great  military  movements  that 
would  devolve  on  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  The  order  from 
Halleck  to  McClellan  to  move  on  Lee  contained  the  approval 
of  both  President  Lincoln  and  the  Secretary  of  War,  but  Gen- 
eral McClellan  practically  ignored  it,  declining  to  cross  the 
Potomac  until  a  time  suiting  his  convenience  should  arrive. 

Occasionally,  if  not  often,  McClellan  hesitated  or  declined 
to  receive  or  execute  orders  from  his  superiors,  when  a  great 
emergency  or  necessity  demanded  it.  He  seemed  disposed  to 
dictate  to  the  War  Department  rather  than  receive  its  orders. 
Near  the  close  of  his  unfortunate  Peninsula  campaign,  when 
he  was  falling  back  on  the  line  of  the  James  River,  General 
McClellan  wired  the  Secretary  of  War  thus:  "If  I  save  this 
army  now,  I  tell  you  plainly  that  I  owe  no  thanks  to  you  or 
to  any  person  in  Washington.  You  have  done  your  best  to 
sacrifice  this  army." 

This  must  have  been  comforting  news  to  both  Secretary 
Stanton  and  President  Lincoln.  The  surprise  of  surprises  was 
that  the  President  did  not  depose  him  then  and  there;  but  in 
the  magnanimity  of  his  great  heart  he  condoned  the  offense 
and  went  farther  than  prudence  would  dictate,  for  after  the 
defeat  of  General  Pope  in  the  second  Bull  Run  battle,  he 
turned  over  the  latter's  command  to  McClellan  and  trusted 
again,  the  fortunes  of  the  country  to  his  generalship.  Senator 


Difficulties  and  Victory  213 

Blaine,  in  his  great  work,  "Twenty  Years  in  Congress,"  after 
giving  general  recognition  of  McClellan's  ability,  speaks  thus: 
"The  opinion  of  a  majority  of  intelligent  observers  both  civil 
and  military,  is  that  he  was  a  man  of  high  professional  train- 
ing, admirably  skilled  in  the  science  of  war,  capable  of  com- 
manding a  large  army  with  success,  but  at  the  same  time  not 
original  in  plan,  nor  fertile  in  resource,  and  lacking  the  energy, 
the  alertness,  the  daring,  the  readiness  to  take  great  risks  for 
great  ends,  which  distinguish  the  military  leaders  of  the  world." 
He  goes  on  to  say:  "For  a  commander  of  armies,  in  an  offens- 
ive campaign,  his  caution  was  too  far  developed.  He  pos- 
sessed in  too  great  a  degree,  what  the  French  term  the  de- 
fensive instinct  of  an  engineer,  and  was  apparently  incapable 
of  doing  from  his  own  volition  what  he  did  so  well  on  the 
bloody  field  of  Antietam,  when  under  the  pressure  of  an  over- 
whelming necessity."  (By  special  permission  from  Funk  & 
Wagnalls  Co.,  Publishers,  N.  Y.) 

No  person,  however  gifted  in  the  expression  of  elegant, 
forceful  diction,  could  more  beautifully  portray  the  delicate 
facts  involved,  than  are  given  in  the  statements  above  narrated. 

Thus  ended  the  military  career  of  General  McClellan.  In 
1864  he  ran  for  President  on  the  Democratic  ticket  and  was 
defeated  by  Lincoln.  He  afterwards  went  to  Europe,  where  he 
remained  three  years.  A  few  years  subsequent  to  his  return 
he  was  elected  Governor  of  New  York.  He  died  October  29, 
1885. 

When  General  Burnside  assumed  command  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  he  was  38  years  of  age.  He  was  a  graduate  of 
West  Point,  and  as  brigade  commander  at  Bull  Run,  in  the 
Peninsula  campaign,  with  Pope,  and  also  with  McClellan  at 
Antietam,  he  had  made  good.  The  President  reposed  great 
confidence  in  him.  He  possessed  one  redeeming  quality,  not 
characteristic  of  his  predecessor — he  would  obey  willingly,  the 


214  Abraham  Lincoln 

orders  of  his  superiors.  This  is  always  the  duty  of  a  true 
soldier.  Of  course,  there  may  be  some  exceptions,  in  an  extra- 
ordinary, exceptional  emergency. 

After  consultation  with  General  Halleck,  General  Burnside 
moved  south  and  crossed  the  Rappahannock  on  the  13th  of 
December,  opposite  Fredericksburg.  Previously,  General  Lee 
with  his  united  army  had  arrived  from  Winchester,  and  occu- 
pied a  strong  position  on  the  heights  at  Fredericksburg,  his 
entire  force  being  about  80,000  men.  The  Union  forces  under 
Burnside  were  estimated  at  100,000. 

The  battle  was  soon  on,  Burnside  making  the  attack,  though 
under  great  disadvantage.  On  the  14th  and  15th  little  fighting 
was  done,  but  on  the  16th  a  bloody  and  decisive  battle  was 
fought,  resulting  in  the  defeat  of  the  Union  forces,  and  com- 
pelling Burnside  to  recross  the  Potomac.  His  loss  was  heavy, 
but  not  quite  as  large  as  that  of  McClellan  at  Antietam.  The 
Union  loss  was  1,138  killed,  9,105  wounded  and  2,078  miss- 
ing; the  Confederate  loss  was  about  half  that  number. 

News  of  the  unexpected  and  untoward  disaster  brought  grief 
as  well  as  depression  to  the  President  and  to  the  people  as 
well.  Lee  had  lost  some  prestige  by  his  defeat  at  Antietam, 
but  all  was  restored  by  this  signal  victory,  and  the  advantage 
we  had  secured  in  that  great  battle  had  been  sacrificed  in  the 
Fredericksburg  disaster.  The  supreme  embarrassment  and 
chagrin  of  Burnside  can  better  be  imagined,  probably,  than 
expressed.  The  great  results  that  he  and  the  people  had  antici- 
pated from  this  campaign  had  become  abortive.  General  Burn- 
side had  not  desired  this  appointment  when  given  him  by  the 
President,  feeling  hardly  able,  as  he  expressed  it,  to  command 
an  army  of  100,000  men.  Perhaps,  at  this  juncture,  it  would 
have  been  better  had  he  resigned,  as  some  of  his  officers  had 
desired,  and  so  reported  to  the  President. 

President  Lincoln  comprehended  and  relieved  the  situation 


Difficulties  and  Victory  215 

by  appointing  General  Burnside  commander  of  the  Ohio  de- 
partment, in  which  he  made  good.  Burnside  was  afterwards 
corps  commander  under  Grant  in  the  Wilderness  campaign, 
and  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  his  associate  generals. 

Thereupon,  in  January,  '63,  General  Joseph  E.  Hooker, 
known  as  "Fighting  Joe"  Hooker,  was  assigned  to  the  command 
of  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  and  a  request  was  made,  asking 
the  army  to  "give  to  the  brave  and  skillful  general,  who  is 
now  to  command  you,  your  full  and  cordial  support  and  co- 
operation." The  assignment  of  General  Burnside  to  the  De- 
partment of  Ohio  closed  the  military  campaign  of  the  Potomac 
for  the  year  1862.  A  further  consideration  of  the  movements 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  will  be  given  in  a  subsequent 
chapter. 

I  desire  now  to  turn  the  attention  of  my  readers  to  the 
movements  of  the  Union  forces  in  the  southwest. 

During  the  year  1862,  while  the  great  Lincoln  and  the 
Nation  were  mourning  over  the  loss  the  army  had  sustained 
in  the  East,  General  Grant  was  achieving  a  series  of  victories 
in  the  southwest,  the  like  of  which  was  almost  unparalleled  in 
the  history  of  American  warfare.  With  his  valiant  army,  he 
went  on  from  conquering  to  conquest,  till  a  half  dozen  or 
more  cities  were  subdued  and  their  people  suing  for  mercy. 
Early  in  '62,  he  moved  up  the  Ohio  River  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Tennessee  River,  thence  south  to  Fort  Henry,  which  was  quickly 
taken,  thence  to  Fort  Donelson.  Here,  a  desperate  battle  en- 
sued; but  at  the  expiration  of  three  days,  the  Confederates 
surrendered,  unconditionally,  losing  10,000  or  12,000,  taken 
prisoners,  besides  probably  2,000  killed  and  wounded.  They 
also  lost  a  large  number  of  horses,  mules,  stores  and  provi- 
sions. General  Grant  reported  his  loss  at  about  1,200  killed, 
wounded  and  missing.  The  fall  of  Pittsburg  Landing,  Shiloh, 
Corinth  and  other  places  soon  followed.    These  marvelous  vie- 


216  Abraham  Lincoln 

tories  brought  cheer  and  reassurance  to  the  heart  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  to  the  people  as  well. 

In  recognition  of  the  great  service  General  Grant  had 
rendered  his  country,  President  Lincoln  elevated  him  to  the 
rank  of  major-general,  and  placed  him  in  command  of  the 
army  of  Western  Tennessee.  Thereafter,  early  in  1863,  Gen- 
eral Grant  laid  siege  to  Vicksburg,  the  "Gibraltar"  of  the 
Confederates  on  the  Mississippi.  After  a  long  and  memorable 
siege,  in  which  my  elder  brother  and  other  Iowa  troops  par- 
ticipated, the  Confederate  general,  Pemberton,  capitulated,  un- 
conditionally, on  July  4;  approximately  37,000  prisoners,  150 
cannon  with  immense  military  supplies  fell  into  our  hands. 

In  November  following,  he  reduced  Chickamauga  and  took 
Lookout  Mountain,  thus  defeating  the  distinguished  Confed- 
erate, General  Bragg.  This  brilliant,  strategic  movement 
placed  General  Grant  on  a  footing  with  the  ablest  generals  of 
any  country  and  of  any  age.  The  battles  as  above  recited  con- 
stitute the  larger  engagements  of  the  campaign  in  the  south- 
west during  '63;  though  many  others  of  greater  or  lesser  mag- 
nitude were  fought,  concerning  which  I  do  not  care  to  mention, 
as  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  write  an  extended  history  of  the 
war. 

On  March  1st,  1864,  General  Grant  was  invested  with  the 
highest  military  title  in  the  land,  that  of  lieutenant-general, 
and  was  placed  in  supreme  command  of  all  the  armies  of  the 
United  States.  He  was  called  to  Washington  and  the  Atlantic 
coast,  and  was  soon  in  front  of  and  confronted  with  the  proud 
and  hitherto  unconquered  forces  of  General  Lee,  with  his 
great  army.  The  conflict  between  the  two  for  supremacy  was 
long  and  sanguinary.     Of  this,  I  will  speak  later. 

During  the  campaign  of  1863  in  the  East,  two  of  the  great 
battles  of  the  American  Civil  War  were  fought,  one  at  Chan- 
cellorsville,  near  the  Rappahannock,  Va.,  May  2nd  and  3rd; 


Difficulties  and  Victory  217 

the  other,  at  Gettysburg,  southern  Pennsylvania,  July  1st  to 
3rd.  At  Chancellorsville,  General  Hooker  commanded  the 
Union  force,  and  General  Lee,  the  Confederate  force.  General 
Hooker's  army  was  superior  in  numbers,  being  about  130,000, 
while  that  of  Lee  did  not  exceed  60,000;  yet  it  is  said  the 
advantage,  probably  in  location,  lay  with  the  Confederates, 
especially  at  the  end  of  the  second  day.  During  a  flank  move- 
ment, General  Howard's  corps  was  surprised  and  thrown  into 
a  panic.    This  was  near  nightfall  of  the  first  day. 

In  this  engagement,  Stonewall  Jackson,  the  most  brilliant 
officer  of  the  Confedrate  army,  Lee  excepted,  was  mortally 
wounded.  The  conflict,  which  from  the  first  was  terrific,  was 
waged  for  two  days,  at  the  end  of  which  our  army  was  worsted. 
Our  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  was  said  to  have  been  18,000, 
while  that  of  the  Confederates  was  only  13,000.  The  news  of 
this  disaster  nearly  killed  Lincoln.  He  had  placed  all  con- 
fidence in  the  military  genius  and  skill  of  Hooker,  but  he  had 
not  made  good. 

General  Lee,  flushed  by  his  recent  victory  at  Chancellors- 
ville, decided  to  invade  Maryland  again  and  march  even 
farther  up  into  Pennsylvania.  He  evidently  thought  that  by 
virtue  of  his  recent  victories  in  the  two  preceding  memorable 
battles,  he  was  justified  in  the  conviction  that  his  march  into 
the  two  states  would  produce  a  radical  change  in  the  sentiment 
of  the  people  there  and  induce  a  mighty  revolt.  In  this  he 
was  sadly  mistaken.  He  evidently  had  forgotten  the  cool  re- 
ception he  formerly  received  on  Northern  territory,  as  well  as 
the  fatal  mistake  made  and  the  humiliating  defeat  he  suffered 
at  Antietam  the  year  before.  He  hoped,  however,  to  redeem 
that  record,  and  took  the  risk. 

Scarcely  had  a  month  elapsed  since  he  achieved  the  victory 
over  Hooker  and  compelled  him  to  recross  the  Rappahannock 
when  he  put  his  forces  in  movement  up  the  southern  bank  of 


218  Abraham  Lincoln 

that  river.  He  crossed  the  Potomac  on  the  24th  and  25th  of 
June  and  marched  to  Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania,  two  days 
later.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Lee  had  sent  a  detachment 
of  troops  up  to  this  city  the  previous  year,  where  they  effected 
the  destruction  of  much  property,  as  well  as  military  stores 
and  supplies,  and  then  returned  to  their  command. 

General  Hooker,  having  learned  of  the  northern  movement 
of  Lee  and  his  army,  commenced  his  march  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, but  differing  with  General  Halleck  as  to  the  disposition 
of  the  10,000  troops  at  Harper's  Ferry,  on  the  27th,  asked  to 
be  relieved  of  his  command.  On  the  28th,  this  request  was 
granted  by  Halleck,  and  General  Meade  was  appointed  in  his 
place. 

A  change  of  commanders  on  the  eve  of  a  battle,  then 
anticipated  and  soon  realized,  was,  in  the  minds  of  many,  of 
doubtful  propriety  and  inviting  probable  defeat;  for  General 
Hooker,  while  failing  to  capture  the  enemy's  stronghold  at 
Chancellorsville,  was  nevertheless  held  in  high  esteem  by  his 
officers  and  men.  General  Meade,  somewhat  astounded  by  this 
unexpected  promotion,  delivered  to  his  soldiers  an  address  of 
courage  and  hope,  and  then  assumed  command.  He  realized 
that  he  was  soon  to  confront  or  be  confronted  by  a  victorious 
army,  commanded  by  a  general  of  almost  unprecedented  mili- 
tary success,  whose  very  presence  in  any  engagement,  like  that 
of  Napoleon,  was  worth  more  than  10,000  soldiers.  Meade 
was  conscious,  however,  that  in  the  impending  battle,  he  was 
meeting  the  enemy  on  Northern  soil,  and  that  fact  was,  to  him, 
a  source  of  hope  and  encouragement. 

General  Meade  intended  to  attack  the  enemy  at  a  favorable 
location,  several  miles  from  Gettysburg,  near  which  a  small 
portion  of  his  army  had  arrived;  but  a  collision  occurred  with 
the  advance  of  Lee's  army  in  the  forenoon  of  July  1,  and  our 
men  were  forced  back,  taking  a  strong  position  on  Cemetery 


Difficulties  and  Victory  219 

Hill,  near  to  and  in  the  rear  of  Gettysburg.  General  Hancock 
had  been  sent  forward  to  examine  this  position,  and  reported 
that  Gettysburg  was  the  place  to  receive  the  Confederate  at- 
tack. On  receiving  this  news,  Meade  centered  his  whole  force 
at  this  point. 

The  elevated  position  of  Cemetery  Hill  proved  a  most  for- 
tunate location,  and  contributed  largely  to  the  success  of  the 
Union  army.  Had  the  enemy  secured  this  first,  the  fate  of  that 
battle  might  have  been  different.  About  noon  on  July  2, 
the  battle  proper  began,  which  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most 
sanguinary  conflicts  known  in  all  the  history  of  American  war- 
fare. In  the  afternoon  of  this  day,  Lee  made  a  desperate  ef- 
fort to  dispossess  our  forces  from  the  vantage  ground  they 
occupied ;  and,  while  not  successful,  he  thought  he  had  gained 
an  advantage  which  he  resolved  to  press  the  next  day,  July 
3,  which  proved  to  be  one  of  the  bloodiest  days  probably 
ever  recorded  in  all  the  annals  of  armed  conflicts. 

During  the  forenoon  of  that  day,  the  struggle  was  renewed 
by  the  Confederates,  the  main  attack  being  made  on  our  center. 
However,  but  little  injury  was  done  on  either  side.  In  the 
afternoon,  our  commander,  seeing  the  enemy  approaching, 
gave  orders  to  his  men  to  reserve  their  fire ;  and  Lee,  supposing 
that  our  cannon  had  been  silenced,  launched  a  column  of 
15,000  or  18,000  against  the  Union  lines.  As  the  Confederates 
came  up,  three  lines  deep,  they  soon  were  in  easy  range  of  our 
guns,  and  the  order  "to  fire"  came  from  our  general.  It  was 
said  by  one  writer,  that  "from  thrice  six  thousand  guns  there 
came  a  sheet  of  smoky  flame,  a  crash,  a  rush  of  leaden  death. 
The  line  literally  melted  away."  Another  writer  says:  "The 
column  (of  the  rebels)  was  practically  annihilated,  only  a 
small  portion  escaping  death  or  capture." 

Shortly  afterwards,  other  columns  came  rushing  up,  with 
intense  momentum,  even  pushing  right  up  under  our  guns,  and 


220  Abraham  Lincoln 

commenced  bayonetting  our  gunners.  "But,"  a  writer  says, 
"they  had  penetrated  to  the  fatal  point.  A  storm  of  grape  and 
canister  tore  its  way  from  man  to  man  and  marked  its  track 
with  corpses  straight  down  their  line.  They  had  exposed  them- 
selves to  the  enfilading  fire  of  the  guns  on  the  western  slope 
of  Cemetery  Hill;  that  exposure  sealed  their  fate."  The  writer 
goes  on  to  say:  "Over  the  fields,  the  escaped  fragments  of  the 
charging  line  fell  back,  the  battle  there  was  over.  It  was  a 
fruitless  sacrifice.  They  (Confederates)  gathered  up  their 
broken  fragments,  formed  their  lines  and  slowly  marched 
away.  It  was  not  a  rout,  it  was  a  bitter,  crushing  defeat.  For 
once,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  won  a  clean,  honest, 
acknowledged  victory." 

It  is  said  that  the  forces  on  each  side  were  about  80,000, 
though  not  all  were  really  engaged.  Mead  states  that  his  losses 
around  Gettysburg  were  2,834  killed,  13,709  wounded,  and 
6,643  missing  (mainly  taken  prisoners  on  the  1st),  total  23,186. 
Lee  gave  no  return  of  his  losses,  but  it  is  said  that  18,000 
killed  and  wounded,  with  10,000  unwounded  prisoners,  would 
fairly  constitute  the  Confederate  losses. 

General  Lee  moved  southwestward  and  crossed  the  Potomac 
at  or  near  Williamsport,  glad,  no  doubt,  that  he  was  once  more 
on  Virginia  soil,  though  with  a  shattered,  emaciated  force, 
much  inferior  in  every  way  to  the  proud  hosts  which  marched 
so  gallantly  north  a  few  weeks  before. 

News  of  the  great  victory  at  Gettysburg  of  our  army  soon 
reached  the  ears  of  the  President,  bringing  relief  and  joy  to  his 
heart,  for  the  tension  of  the  situation  as  to  the  probable  result 
of  that  desperate  battle  had  been  terrible.  The  next  morning, 
July  4,  the  Executive  issued  a  proclamation  announcing  the 
great  triumph  that  had  come  to  our  army,  for  which  "the  Presi- 
dent especially  desires  that  on  this  day,  He  whose  will,  not 
ours,  should  ever  be  done,  be  everywhere  remembered  and 
reverenced  with  the  profoundest  gratitude." 


Difficulties  and  Victory  221 

The  Fourth  of  July  this  year  was  made  especially  memor- 
able by  another  great  victory  achieved  by  General  Grant  at 
Vicksburg,  that  day,  the  news  of  which  reached  the  White 
House  about  ten  o'clock,  the  very  hour  in  which  the  President 
had  proclaimed  the  victory  at  Gettysburg.  These  concurrent 
victories  changed  the  situation  and  gave  hope  and  reassurance 
to  Lincoln  and  the  people  as  well.  Many  thought  then,  as  all 
have  thought  since,  that  these  decisive  and  memorable  victories, 
by  the  Union  army,  should  have  at  once  and  forever  terminated 
the  bloody  struggle. 

Lee  and  his  associate  generals  may  have  entertained  con- 
victions of  this  character;  but  if  so,  Jefferson  Davis  would 
never  have  assented  thereto,  preferring  to  die  in  the  last  ditch, 
as  he  and  his  troops  finally  did,  rather  than  then  surrender. 
What  a  vast  expenditure  of  treasure  and  blood  such  a  termina- 
tion would  have  saved.  However,  in  the  further  prosecution 
of  the  war,  there  may  have  been  the  approval  of  an  All-Wise 
Providence;  for  we  may  not  have  been  at  that  time  sufficiently 
chastised  as  a  nation. 

It  may  have  been  necessary  to  proceed  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war,  until,  as  Lincoln  said  so  eloquently,  "every  drop 
of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn 
with  the  sword."  As  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so 
still  it  must  be  said:  "The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and 
righteous  altogether." 

I  have  previously  mentioned  the  promotion  of  General 
Grant  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general,  also  his  appointment 
to  the  command  of  all  the  American  forces  and  his  assignment 
to  the  command  of  the  East,  especially  that  of  the  Potomac. 
The  incidents  connected  with  and  the  results  attained  by  this 
great  general  and  his  conquering  army  in  the  Wilderness  of 
Virginia  during  the  summer  of  1864  and  the  winter  following 
should  not  engage  our  attention.    His  appointment  to  this  great 


222  Abraham  Lincoln 

command  restored  and  inspired  confidence  with  soldiers  and 
civilians  alike.  His  presence  in  any  engagement  was,  like  that 
of  Napoleon,  of  greater  worth  than  would  be  that  of  a  brigade 
of  soldiers  without  him.  His  advance  towards  Richmond  was 
confronted  at  every  step  with  an  equally  victorious  and  well 
equipped  army  from  the  South.  General  Lee  had  suffered  but 
two  signal  defeats,  those  of  Antietam  and  Gettysburg,  and  prac- 
tically no  surrenders,  during  the  war.  His  people,  eight  months 
later,  had  forgotten  his  misfortunes  or  forgiven  him,  probably 
both.  He  now  could  and  did  marshal  the  great  forces,  the  very 
flower  of  the  Confederacy,  at  his  command.  General  Grant, 
with  his  characteristic,  dogged  tenacity,  commenced  his  aggres- 
sive move  against  the  strongholds  of  the  enemy.  The  struggle 
was  long  and  doubtful  if  not  discouraging.  He  met  with  alter- 
nate successes  and  defeats;  but  his  slogan  was  "On  to  Rich- 
mond if  it  takes  all  summer." 

In  the  spring  of  '65  the  Confederate  Army  of  Virginia 
was  reduced  by  desertions  and  its  recent  heavy  losses,  mainly 
in  prisoners,  to  35,000  men.  It  was  concentered  from  Rich- 
mond to  Petersburg  on  the  south.  Finally,  on  April  2,  General 
Sheridan  flanked  the  Confederates  at  Big  Five  Forks,  Va.,  cap- 
turing their  entrenchments  with  6,000  men.  General  Grant 
then  ordered  an  attack  all  along  the  enemy's  line,  with  the 
result  that  the  Confederates  were  driven  from  their  entrench- 
ments from  Appomattox  above  Petersburg  to  the  river  below. 
The  assault  was  terrific,  and  the  loss  of  life  almost  unprece- 
dented. 

General  Lee,  seeing  that  his  fate  was  doomed,  ordered  the 
same  day,  the  evacuation  of  both  Petersburg  and  Richmond. 
On  April  3  the  Union  forces  marched  triumphantly  into  and 
occupied  the  two  cities.  All  then  knew  that  the  war  was  at  an 
end.  By  rapid  movements,  Grant  cut  off  Lee's  retreat  to  Lynch- 
burg and  Danville,  and  came  up  to  him  at  Appomattox  Court 


Difficulties  and  Victory  223 

House  on  April  9.  He  demanded  Lee's  immediate  surrender, 
and  the  latter,  seeing  the  futility  of  further  resistance,  yielded 
and  handed  General  Grant  his  sword.  The  noble  Grant,  with 
almost  unparalleled  magnanimity,  returned  the  sword  to  Gen- 
eral Lee.  The  latter,  though  conquered,  was  in  no  sense  humili- 
ated. The  two  great  military  captains  remained  friends  there- 
after, as  long  as  each  survived,  as  I  think. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  General  William  Tecumseh 
Sherman,  an  officer  scarcely  second  to  General  Grant  in  mili- 
tary achievement,  had  fought  a  great  and  successful  battle  at 
Atlanta,  Georgia,  thence  marched  to  the  sea,  at  Savannah,  a 
distance  of  290  miles.  He  soon  captured  Savannah  and  Charles- 
ton, and  thence  moved  north  through  the  Carolinas,  capturing 
the  most  important  cities.  He  was  quite  successful  in  cutting 
off  the  resources  of  General  Lee,  but  his  supreme  and  fortunate 
effort  was  in  keeping  the  Confederate  general,  Joseph  John- 
ston, at  bay,  and  preventing  him  from  making  or  forming  a 
connection  with  Lee,  prior  to  the  latter's  final  defeat  and  sur- 
render. In  a  few  days,  following  Lee's  surrender,  General 
Johnston  surrendered  to  General  Sherman  in  North  Carolina; 
and  this,  with  the  surrender  of  General  Kirby  Smith,  west  of 
the  Mississippi,  closed  the  war. 

General  Grant's  friendly  attitude  and  generosity  toward 
the  Confederates,  both  officers  and  men,  at  the  time  of  the 
capitulation  won  their  kindly  regards  and  affection.  He  per- 
mitted the  officers  to  take  home  with  them  their  side  arms,  and 
to  the  men  he  gave  the  horses  and  mules,  saying  they  would 
need  them  in  the  spring  for  their  farm  work. 

The  hungry,  haggard  appearance  of  the  boys  in  gray  excited 
the  pity  of  the  boys  in  blue,  and  the  latter  soon  shared  their 
rations  with  them  to  the  fullest  extent.  Further,  they  drew 
added  rations  and  filled  the  Johnnies'  knapsacks  to  their  capa- 
city, thus  enabling  them  to  journey  home  in  comfort,  though 


224  Abraham  Lincoln 

hatless,  shoeless  and  half  clad,  as  many  were,  to  meet  their 
loved  ones,  from  whom  they  had  been  so  long  separated. 

Over  the  successful  termination  of  the  war  there  was,  in 
the  loyal  states,  universal  rejoicing.  The  people  at  first  could 
scarcely  believe  the  end  had  come.  As  soon  as  the  news  of 
Lee's  surrender  was  confirmed  the  joyous  demonstration  knew 
no  bounds. 

Fathers  and  mothers,  sisters  and  brothers,  embraced  each 
other  in  tearful,  happy  anticipation  of  the  early  arrival  of  the 
dear  boy  or  boys  (in  our  family  there  were  four),  some  of 
whom  they  had  mourned  as  dead.  Sure  enough,  in  a  few 
weeks,  the  boys  in  blue,  "who  had  borne  their  banners  so 
bravely,  against  every  discouragement  on  a  hundred  battle- 
fields," came  marching  home.  The  sound  of  their  footfall  on 
the  old  home  threshold  was  the  signal  of  their  arrival,  and  in 
a  moment  their  lives  were  imperiled,  for  their  breath  was 
almost  kissed  away.  Even  the  old  family  dog  manifested  his 
interest  by  approaching  and  wagging  his  tail. 

The  noon  or  evening  meal  was  soon  ready,  the  table  freight- 
ed with  the  good  things  that  mother  only  could  prepare.  In  the 
evening,  neighbors  and  friends  would  call  to  add  their  good 
wishes  and  happiness  over  the  arrival  of  the  soldier  boy.  When 
the  hour  of  retiring  had  arrived  the  old  father  or  sometimes, 
the  widowed  mother,  would  take  down  the  old  family  Bible, 
and  reading  from  Luke  15,  or  Psalms  91,  would  thank  the 
Heavenly  Father  for  the  return  of  their  son,  or  thank  Him 
that  "a  thousand  had  fallen  at  his  side,  and  ten  thousand  at  his 
right  hand,  but  it  had  not  come  nigh  him." 


CHAPTER  V. 
Martyrdom 

The  five  days  following  the  surrender  of  Lee  were  the  hap- 
piest of  all  days  to  the  loyal  people  of  America,  for  the 
black  war  cloud  had  passed  away,  peace  had  been  re- 
stored, and  all  were  rejoicing  over  the  glorious  consummation. 
President  Lincoln  and  all  his  cabinet  were  happy  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  work  well  done,  also  in  the  added  thought  that,  at 
last  the  great  rebellion  had  been  crushed  and  the  conquest  of  the 
Nation's  foes  had  been  effected.  But  on  the  night  of  the  fifth 
day,  April  14,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth  was  changed  to 
mourning,  for  that  night  witnessed  the  saddest,  or  one  of  the 
saddest,  tragedies  ever  known  or  written  in  all  the  pages  of 
recorded  history,  the  assassination  of  the  great  and  beloved 
war  President. 

The  burdens  of  the  long  war  had  worn  heavily  on  the 
President,  so  much  so  as  to  be  observable  to  all,  and  one  day 
he  was  heard  to  say:  "I  think  I  shall  never  be  glad  again"; 
but  the  reception  of  the  good  news  from  the  front  on  the  9th 
of  April  had  wrought  a  wonderful  change  in  his  looks  and 
general  appearance.  Indeed,  a  marvelous  transformation  was 
shortly  apparent.  Honorable  James  Harlan  of  Iowa,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  afterwards  of  the  cabinet, 
in  speaking  of  Lincoln  during  those  happy,  memorable  days, 
said:  "His  whole  appearance,  poise  and  bearing  had  marvel  - 
ously  changed.  He  was,  in  fact,  transformed."  He  goes  on  to 
say  that  his  indescribable  sadness,  formerly  apparent,  "had 
been  suddenly  changed  to  an  equally  indescribable  expression 
of  serene  joy,  as  if  conscious  that  the  great  purpose  of  his 
life  had  been  achieved." 


226  Abraham  Lincoln 

On  the  day  in  which  the  news  of  Lee's  surrender  at  Appo- 
mattox was  received  the  cabinet  meeting  was  held  an  hour 
earlier  than  usual.  Neither  the  President  nor  any  member  of 
the  cabinet  was  able  for  a  time,  so  a  writer  says,  to  give  utter- 
ance to  his  feelings.  "At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  they 
all  dropped  on  their  knees  and  offered,  in  silence  and  in  tears, 
their  humble  and  heartfelt  acknowledgments  to  the  Almighty 
for  the  triumph  granted  to  the  national  cause." 

Of  the  many  notable  and  memorable  addresses  delivered 
by  Lincoln  during  his  eventful  career,  the  following  was  his 
last.  On  Tuesday  evening,  April  11,  '65,  he  was  serenaded  at 
the  White  House,  and  this  was  his  response:  "Fellow  Citizens: 
We  meet  this  evening  not  in  sorrow,  but  in  gladness  of  heart. 
The  evacuation  of  Petersburg  and  Richmond,  and  the  surren- 
der of  the  principal  insurgent  army  give  hope  of  a  righteous 
and  speedy  peace  whose  joyous  expression  cannot  be  restrained. 
In  the  midst  of  this,  however,  He  from  whom  all  blessings  flow 
must  not  be  forgotten.  A  call  for  a  national  thanksgiving  is 
being  prepared  and  will  be  duly  promulgated.  Nor  must  those 
whose  harder  part  gives  us  the  cause  of  rejoicing  be  overlooked. 
Their  honors  must  not  be  parceled  out  with  the  others.  I  my- 
self was  near  the  front  (he  had  just  visited  and  returned  from 
Richmond)  and  had  the  high  pleasure  of  transmitting  much 
of  the  good  news  to  you;  but  no  part  of  the  honor,  for  plan  or 
execution,  is  mine.  To  General  Grant,  his  skillful  officers  and 
brave  men,  all  belongs.  The  gallant  navy  stood  ready,  but 
was  not  in  reach  to  take  active  part.  By  these  recent  successes, 
the  reinauguration  of  national  authority,  reconstruction,  which 
has  had  a  large  share  of  thought  from  the  first,  is  pressed  much 
more  closely  upon  our  attention.  It  is  fraught  with  great 
difficulty." 

He  speaks  further  of  the  embarrassment  necessarily  attend- 
ing the  solution  of  such  national  problems,  and  then  closes  by 


Martyrdom  227 

saying:  "In  the  present  situation,  as  the  phrase  goes,  it  may  be 
my  duty  to  make  some  new  announcement  to  the  people  of  the 
South.  I  am  considering,  and  shall  not  fail  to  act,  when  satis- 
fied that  action  will  be  proper."  ("Wayne  Whipple,"  page 
635,  "Story  Life  of  Lincoln,"  John  C.  Winston,  Publishers, 
Philadelphia.) 

Before  retiring  from  the  crowd  the  President  requested  the 
serenading  band  to  play  "Dixie,"  saying,  "We  have  a  right  to 
that  tune  now."  Little  did  Lincoln  and  the  admiring  multitude 
think  that  would  be  his  last  address;  but  such  it  proved  to  be. 

Throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  there  was 
one  jubilant  cry,  on  April  14,  1865,  and  that  was:  "The  war 
is  over." 

The  air  was  vibrant  with  the  spirit  of  universal  rejoicing; 
and  it  is  said  by  his  friends  that  Lincoln  never  seemed  to  be 
more  glad,  more  serene,  than  he  did  on  that  day.  All  nature 
seemed  to  combine  to  make  things  lively.  The  warm,  balmy 
air  of  that  spring  morning,  fragrant  with  the  odor  of  blossom- 
ing trees  and  shrubs  along  the  hillside  and  fringing  the  Poto- 
mac, in  the  gardens  and  city  parks,  was  delightfully  refresh- 
ing. The  prevailing  good  cheer  of  the  White  House  was  en- 
hanced that  morning  by  the  presence  at  the  breakfast  table  of 
the  President's  oldest  son,  Captain  Robert  T.  Lincoln,  an  aide- 
de-camp  of  General  Grant,  who  had  arrived  from  the  front  that 
morning.  The  important  events  of  the  Wilderness  campaign, 
with  the  closing  scenes  thereof,  were  doubtless  discussed  with 
absorbing  interest  by  father  and  son. 

The  President's  heart  was  further  delighted  by  the  early 
arrival  of  General  Grant  that  morning.  The  purpose  of  the 
General's  call  this  time  was  not  to  discuss  new  plans  for  the 
further  prosecution  of  the  war,  as  on  former  occasions,  but 
to  talk  of  peace,  and  the  unbounded  cheer  and  delight  it  would 
bring  to  the  people,  to  all  the  people.    The  cabinet  convened 


228  Abraham  Lincoln 

early  in  the  morning,  Friday  being  the  regular  day  for  such 
meeting,  and  General  Grant  was  invited  to  remain  at  the  session. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  General  Joseph 
Johnston  had  not  surrendered  to  General  Sherman  (though  he 
did  shortly  afterwards),  and  intense  interest  centered  in  Gen- 
eral Sherman's  movements.  General  Grant  was  questioned  as 
to  his  convictions  regarding  the  probable  outcome.  He  was 
optimistic  in  his  thought  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  John- 
ston's capitulation  would  be  only  a  matter  of  a  few  days,  which 
proved  true.  Much  of  the  time  at  the  meeting  was  consumed 
in  the  discussion  of  the  question  and  policy  of  reconstruction, 
which  naturally  would  soon  come  to  the  fore. 

The  President  took  this,  the  first  opportunity,  to  express 
himself  as  opposed  to  any  policy  or  act  of  vindictiveness  or 
revenge  towards  the  people  of  the  South.  He  had  agreed  with 
General  Grant,  all  along,  that  a  complete  conquest  or  suppres- 
sion of  the  rebellion  was  the  only  policy  to  be  pursued,  if  a 
restoration  of  peace  was  ever  attained.  But  now,  as  the  South 
was  conquered,  it  was  not  wise  or  necessary  to  add  to  their 
humiliation. 

The  President  further  remarked  that  "he  hoped  there  would 
be  no  persecution,  no  bloody  work,  after  the  war  was  over." 
He  further  stated  that  "we  must  extinguish  our  resentment  if 
we  expect  harmony  and  union."  It  was  his  desire  that  a  feel- 
ing of  good-will  and  cooperation  with  the  South  should  be  en- 
couraged. These  were  the  impulses  of  his  noble  heart  and 
generous  nature.  (Under  obligation  for  some  thoughts  ex- 
tracted from  Ida  M.  Tarbell's  "Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  Vol. 
2,  Pages  230  to  235.    Published  by  Macmillan  &  Co.,  N.  Y.) 

Many  entertained  the  opinion  then  and  since,  and  the 
writer  concurs  therein,  that  if  President  Lincoln  had  survived, 
the  long,  bitter,  acrimonious  debates  in  Congress,  during  the 
years  of  reconstruction  would  have  been  avoided. 


Martyrdom  229 

The  cabinet  meeting  having  adjourned,  and  the  lunch  hav- 
ing been  served,  the  President  suggested  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  that 
they  take  an  afternoon  drive.  He  dispensed  with  the  services 
of  a  coachman,  evidently  wishing  that  no  one  should  accom- 
pany them  that  they  might  the  better  enjoy  the  converse  alone. 

"Mary,"  said  he,  "we  have  had  a  hard  time  of  it  since 
coming  to  Washington,  but  the  war  is  over,  and  with  God's 
blessing  we  may  hope  for  four  years  of  peace  and  happiness, 
and  then  we  will  go  back  to  Illinois  and  pass  the  rest  of  our 
lives  in  quiet." 

He  also  spoke  of  his  Springfield  home,  the  incidents  of  his 
early  days,  the  law  office,  the  cottage  in  which  their  four  chil- 
dren were  born ;  thus  throwing  off  the  tension  of  the  war  days, 
and  enjoying  once  more,  in  anticipation,  the  scenes  of  their 
early  life  in  their  far-off  prairie  home.  "We  have  laid  up  some 
money,"  he  continued,  "and  during  this  term  we  will  try  and 
save  up  some  more."  He  admitted,  however,  that  he  might 
not  have  enough  to  support  them  comfortably,  in  which  event 
he  might  open  a  law  office  in  Springfield  or  Chicago,  and  thus 
earn  enough  to  afford  them  a  livelihood  during  their  declining 
years.  (I  quote  from  Dr.  I.  N.  Arnold's  "Life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,"  Page  429.) 

On  their  return  from  their  drive  the  President  met  a  num- 
ber of  his  friends,  one  of  the  number  being  an  old-time  asso- 
ciate, Governor  Richard  Oglesby  of  Illinois.  During  the  after- 
noon the  President  performed  two  acts  of  mercy,  one  of  them 
being  the  pardon  of  a  deserted  soldier,  sentenced  to  be  shot, 
saying  as  he  did  so,  "The  boy  can  do  more  good  above  the 
ground  than  under  ground."  The  other  act  was  his  approval 
of  an  application  for  discharge  of  a  Confederate  prisoner,  on 
his  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance,  on  whose  petition  he  wrote, 
"Let  it  be  done." 

Previously  a  theater  party  for  that  evening  had  been  made 


230  Abraham  Lincoln 

up  by  the  mistress  of  the  White  House,  and  General  and  Mrs. 
Grant  were  to  be  her  guests.  They  were  to  see  Laura  Keene 
at  Ford's  Theater,  in  "Our  American  Cousin."  The  box  had 
been  secured  early  in  the  day,  and  a  large  number  arranged 
to  attend,  in  anticipation  of  seeing  the  Presidential  party  and 
the  "Hero  of  Appomattox."  The  manager  of  the  theater  had 
given  extended  publicity  in  the  afternoon  papers  that  the 
"President  and  his  lady"  together  with  "General  and  Mrs. 
Grant"  would  be  present  that  evening  to  attend  Miss  Keene's 
benefit. 

It  was  ascertained  late  in  the  afternoon  that  General  Grant 
and  his  lady  had  changed  their  plan  and  had  decided  to  go 
north  that  night.  This  occasioned  great  disappointment  all 
around,  and  someone  suggested  then  that  the  party  be  given  up ; 
but  lest  the  public  be  disappointed  the  President  thought  it 
best  to  keep  the  engagement.  A  couple  of  young  friends  were 
then  invited  to  take  the  place  of  General  and  Mrs.  Grant,  which 
invitation  was  gladly  accepted. 

The  President  met  Speaker  Colfax  that  afternoon  and  cor- 
dially invited  him  to  accompany  him  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  to  the 
theater  that  night,  but  owing  to  a  previous  engagement  to  start 
west  that  night,  Mr.  Colfax  had  to  decline. 

The  Presidential  party  was  a  little  late  getting  started,  and 
then  shaking  hands  with  a  few  friends,  the  President  accom- 
panied Mrs.  Lincoln  to  the  carriage,  and  was  driven  off  quickly 
to  the  theater.  It  is  said  that  the  President  and  party  arrived 
about  the  middle  of  the  first  act  and  were  received  with  hearty 
applause.  The  band  played  "Hail  to  the  Chief,"  and  all  eyes 
were  turned  to  the  distinguished   guests  occupying  the  box. 

A  large  arm  chair  was  placed  to  the  front  and  left  for  the 
President's  use,  which  on  arrival,  he  occupied,  Mrs.  Lincoln 
taking  a  chair  to  his  right.  The  accompanying  guests  occupied 
seats  in  the  rear. 


Martyrdom  231 

About  the  middle  of  the  third  act  a  foul  assassin,  in  the 
person  of  John  Wilkes  Booth,  approached  stealthily  from  the 
rear  and  sent  a  bullet  crashing  through  the  brain  of  the  great 
President.  The  assassin  leaped  from  the  stage,  flourishing  a 
dagger,  having  dropped  his  revolver,  crying  "Sic  temper  tyran- 
nis,"  "thus  be  it  always  to  tyrants." 

In  his  descent  from  the  stage  Booth's  spur  caught  in  the 
flag,  which  brought  him  to  the  floor,  fracturing  a  bone  in  his 
left  leg.  This  seemed  to  be  providential,  for  by  this  accident 
his  flight  was  impeded  and  his  escape  made  impossible.  He 
disappeared  through  a  rear  door  and  hastened  to  his  horse 
that  he  left  in  the  alley  and,  mounting  quickly,  rode  rapidly 
away.  At  the  President's  box  all  was  in  commotion.  The 
shrieks  and  moans  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  could  be  heard  above  the 
din,  and  were  heartrending.  The  President  was  seen  to  par- 
tially rise,  after  the  shot,  but  sank  back  in  his  seat,  by  help 
of  an  attendant,  his  head  falling  on  his  breast. 

A  few  soldiers  improvised  a  stretcher  and,  placing  the  limp, 
unconscious  form  thereon,  bore  him  tenderly  across  the  street 
to  a  private  home.  One  of  these  soldiers  told  me  of  this  sad 
incident  many  years  thereafter.  In  a  few  moments  several  army 
surgeons  were  by  his  bedside  and  did  all  that  mortal  man  could 
do  to  resuscitate  their  distinguished  patient,  but  in  vain.  Around 
his  bedside  stood  several  of  his  friends,  including  Judge  Will- 
iam T.  Otto,  an  old-time  acquaintance  and  friend,  holding  his 
hand;  Attorney-General  Speed  and  Rev.  Dr.  Gurney,  the  Presi- 
dent's pastor  while  in  Washington. 

One  writer  speaks  of  the  scene  and  surroundings  with  much 
pathos,  as  follows:  "Leaning  against  the  wall  stood  Secretary 
Stanton,  who  gazed  now  and  then  at  the  dying  man's  face,  and 
who  seemed  overwhelmed  with  emotion.  From  time  to  time 
he  wrote  telegrams  or  gave  orders,  which,  in  the  midst  of  the 
crisis,  assured  the  preservation  of  peace." 


232  Abraham  Lincoln 

I  think  all  the  remaining  members  of  the  cabinet  (except 
Secretary  Seward,  who  had  been  assaulted  by  a  would-be 
assassin  the  same  night)  were  present,  and  several  senators, 
as  well,  pacing  up  and  down  the  corridor." 

At  last,  about  7:30  on  the  morning  of  April  15,  the  sur- 
geon announced  that  death  was  near,  and  a  few  minutes  later 
the  pulse  ceased  to  beat.  The  dying  man  never  regained  con- 
sciousness from  the  moment  he  received  the  fatal  shot. 

It  is  said  that  "Mr.  Stanton  approached  the  bed,  closed 
Mr.  Lincoln's  eyes,  and  drawing  the  sheet  over  the  dead  man's 
head,  uttered  these  words  in  a  very  low  voice,  'He  is  the  man 
for  the  ages.'  " 

The  news  of  the  sad  tragedy  was  flashed  over  the  country 
that  day  and  almost  paralyzed  the  people.  Never  had  the 
Nation  been  convulsed  in  such  deep  mourning.  Sorrow,  like 
a  funeral  pall,  brooded  over  and  settled  down  on  the  people. 
I  had  returned  from  the  army  and  reentered  college.  No  more 
study  or  recitations  that  day.  The  old  college  bell  seemed  to 
peal  out  the  solemn  words:  "Lincoln's  dead,  Lincoln's  dead." 

All  business  was  suspended.  Men  gathered  in  groups  to 
discuss  the  sad  news,  while  others  passed  each  other  in  silence, 
the  weeping  eye,  the  falling  tear  indicating  the  sorrow  of 
heart  within.  Old  men  and  women,  alike,  would  meet  and 
weep  like  children. 

Never  was  a  public  man  held  in  such  endearing  relation- 
ship. Even  the  picture  of  the  martyred  President  on  the  wall 
was  sufficient  to  evoke  expressions  of  sorrow,  often  mingled 
with  tears.  At  Washington  the  President's  remains  lay  in  state 
in  the  Capitol  for  a  few  days,  viewed  by  a  large  number  of 
sorrowing  citizens.  Then  the  funeral  train,  with  its  precious 
freight,  the  bereaved  widow  and  family  and  a  few  friends, 
including  Bishop  Simpson,  commenced  its  long  and  mournful 
journey  from  Washington  to  Springfield,  111.  This  was  done 
that  the  dear  form  might  have  its  last  resting  place  near  his 


Martyrdom  233 

former  home,  amid  the  scenes  of  his  early  struggles  and  tri- 
umphs, surrounded  by  those  he  had  loved  and  served  so  well. 
In  going  to  Springfield  the  train  took  the  same  route  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  family  had  taken  in  going  to  Washington,  four 
years  before.  Thus  they  passed  through  Baltimore,  Philadel- 
phia, New  York,  Albany,  thence  westward  through  Syracuse, 
Rochester,  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  Chicago,  to  Springfield. 

Through  all  that  journey,  in  every  city,  hamlet  and  town 
through  which  they  passed,  sorrowing  citizens,  in  large  num- 
bers, turned  out  to  pay  a  tribute  of  love  to  their  fallen  chief- 
tain. At  Springfield  a  vast  concourse  of  people  had  assembled 
to  show  their  appreciation  of  their  former  distinguished  citi- 
zen and  be  present  at  the  last  sad  rites. 

At  the  memorial  services  Bishop  Simpson,  the  eloquent 
Methodist  divine,  a  warm  personal  friend  of  the  late  Presi- 
dent, delivered  an  able  and  impressive  funeral  oration.  In 
closing,  he  expressed  the  hope  that  the  spirit  and  mantle  of  the 
great  Elijah  (Lincoln)  might  fall  on  the  young  Elisha  (Rob- 
ert), and  then  invoking  the  blessing  of  the  Father  of  all  mer- 
cies upon  our  stricken  country,  upon  the  deeply  bereaved  fam- 
ily and  upon  the  large  assemblage  then  present,  he  closed. 
Loving  hands  then  bore  the  precious  form  to  its  last  resting 
place,  where  it  will  remain  in  quiet,  undisturbed  slumber  till 
the  morn  of  eternity's  dawn  shall  awake  him  to  an  eternal  day. 

What  inspiration  and  hope  to  the  young  men  of  America 
is  thus  afforded  by  the  life  and  character  of  this  great  man! 

Without  training,  self-educated,  in  due  time  aspiring  to  and 
becoming  a  great  lawyer,  an  eloquent  speaker,  and  an  eminent 
statesman.  By  his  unaided  aspiration,  without  political  in- 
fluence, he  carved  his  way  from  the  lowest  position  to  the  high- 
est, in  the  gift  of  the  people,  and  having  reached  the  summit 
at  last,  "from  the  topmost  round  of  fame's  ladder,  he  stepped 
to  the  skies." 

(End  of  Part  Two) 


PART  THREE 
THE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  LINCOLN 


CHAPTER  I. 
His  Generosity  and  Humor 

In  THE  following  pages  I  purpose  giving  some  of  the  leading, 
dominant  characteristics  of  the  great  Emancipator  as  they 
were  revealed  or  unfolded  in  his  private  and  public  career. 
Among  the  number  may  be  included  his  ardent  love  of  books, 
his  naked  honesty,  his  love  of  and  trust  in  the  common  people; 
his  sympathy  for  the  private  soldiers;  his  aptitude  and  love 
of  story-telling;  his  religious  life;  his  marvelous,  unexcelled 
oratory. 

While  his  education  was  quite  limited,  young  Lincoln  early 
acquired  an  unquenchable  thirst  for  knowledge.  Books  were 
scarce  and  newspapers  unknown  in  his  unsettled,  rural  com- 
munity. A  few  books,  however,  were  obtainable,  such  as  the 
Bible,  Pilgrim's  Progress,  Weems'  Life  of  Washington,  Aesop's 
Fables  and  the  life  of  Robinson  Crusoe,  the  contents  of  which 
he  devoured  as  a  hungry  man  would  his  meals.  He  read  and 
re-read  each  till  he  knew  them  almost  by  heart.  As  he  grew 
older,  more  books  were  available,  and  it  is  said  that  he  read 
every  book  he  could  secure  within  a  radius  of  fifty  miles  of 
his  log-cabin  home. 

At  that  early  date  oil  lamps  were  not  in  vogue,  and  tallow 
candles  scarce,  so  he  would  stretch  himself,  stomach  down,  on 
the  floor  in  front  of  the  old  Dutch  fireplace,  book  in  hand, 
where  he  would  read  by  the  light  of  burning  pine  knots  till 
midnight  and  sometimes  into  the  wee  hours  of  the  morning. 

This  intense,  student  habit  he  maintained  through  his  ma- 
ture years  (although  in  more  favorable  circumstances,  of 
course)  so  at  the  time  of  his  election  to  the  presidency,  in  all 


238  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  line  or  domain  of  political  history,  law,  statecraft,  states- 
manship, diplomacy,  public  measures,  world  movements,  etc., 
he  was  considered  one  of  the  best  informed  men  in  America. 

Young  Lincoln  soon  acquired  the  sobriquet  of  "Honest 
Abe"  by  several  incidents  which  I  will  relate. 

A  few  years  after  his  admission  to  the  bar,  he  acquired  a 
reputation  for  superior  ability  as  a  jury  lawyer. 

Few  men  could  cope  with  him  in  the  trial  of  a  case,  espe- 
cially when  the  interest  of  his  client  was  peculiarly  meritorious. 

The  following  incidents  are  at  point. 

A  cow  belonging  to  an  old  Methodist  clergyman  had  been 
killed  on  the  track  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  an 
action  was  brought  for  damage  in  the  sum  of  $20  against  the 
said  road  by  the  owner  of  the  cow.  The  services  of  young 
Lincoln  were  secured  by  the  prosecutor.  The  officers  of  the 
railroad  company,  wishing  to  establish  a  precedent  in  such 
matters,  refused  to  pay  the  claim.  They  resorted  to  a  dishonor- 
able method  to  secure  their  ends  but  failed.  They  had  heard 
of  the  influence  that  Attorney  Lincoln  generally  had  over  a 
jury  in  a  civil  trial,  and  made  several  attempts  to  buy  him  off, 
but  in  vain. 

Finally  the  superintendent  of  the  road  approached  him, 
with  that  hope  in  view,  but  failing  to  induce  the  young  attor- 
ney to  leave  his  client  and  undertake  the  cause  of  the  railroad, 
he  finally  laid  down  the  sum  of  $500  in  gold  and  offered  that 
amount  if  Lincoln  would  come  to  their  defense.  This  effort  to 
bribe  the  young  lawyer  made  Lincoln  very  indignant.  He 
arose  from  his  seat  with  the  remark:  "Mr.  Superintendent:  I 
would  not  leave  my  client  and  take  your  case  if  you  would 
give  me  a  fee-simple  deed  of  your  railroad.  I  don't  know," 
he  continued,  "that  I  will  win  the  case,  and  I  do  not  know 
that  I  will  get  a  dollar  for  my  services  if  I  should,  but  I  would 
not  leave  my  old  clergyman-client  and  take  your  case  if  you 
would  give  me  a  deed  of  your  whole  road." 


His  Generosity  and  Humor  239 

The  railroad  superintendent  stated  afterwards  that  when 
he  arose  and  bade  Mr.  Lincoln  good-bye,  he  never  felt  so 
sheepish  and  cheap  in  his  life. 

Another  instance  of  his  characteristic  honesty  is  shown  in 
the  prompt  payment  of  a  book  he  had  borrowed,  which  was 
destroyed  through  no  fault  of  his.  He  had  secured  of  a  neigh- 
bor the  loan  of  Weems'  "Life  of  Washington,"  which  book  he 
was  accustomed  to  place  on  the  window  sill  of  his  log  cabin, 
when  he  retired  at  night.  One  night  there  was  a  downpour 
of  rain,  and  the  defective  roof  permitted  the  water  to  flood  the 
house,  window  sill  and  all.  The  book  was  partially  destroyed, 
which  greatly  perturbed  the  young  historian.  He  went  at  once 
to  the  owner  and  related  the  circumstance,  asking  the  price  of 
the  book  and  offering  to  pay  for  same  as  soon  as  he  could  earn 
the  money.  The  kind  man  gave  "Abe"  the  price,  but  demanded 
no  money,  saying  he  could  work  for  him  three  days  and  thus 
pay  for  the  book.  Young  Lincoln  proceeded  to  husk  corn  for 
the  time  named,  and  went  home,  the  proud  owner  of  the  first 
book  he  ever  possessed,  probably.  Other  instances  could  be 
added,  showing  his  sterling  manhood;  but  let  these  suffice. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  always  a  lover  of  the  common  people. 
This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  his  early  environment  and  later 
activities  were  largely  among  the  lowly.  His  own  great  heart 
went  out  in  sympathy  and  kindly  regard  to  the  masses,  and 
they,  in  turn,  responded  by  vote  and  every  other  expression  of 
appreciation  that  they  could  manifest.  He  always  trusted  them, 
and  they  loved  and  trusted  him.  He  once  said  to  Richard 
Yates,  who  afterwards  was  Governor  of  Illinois:  ''Dick,  you 
can  always  trust  the  common  people.  You  can  fool  some  of 
them  all  the  time,  and  all  of  them  some  of  the  time,  but  you 
can't  fool  all  of  them  all  the  time." 

"God  must  love  the  common  people,  for  He  made  so  many 
of  them." 


240  Abraham  Lincoln 

President  Lincoln  manifested  early  and  always  a  deep  sym- 
pathy for  his  soldier  boys,  and  did  everything  in  his  power 
to  ameliorate  their  hardships  and  lighten  their  burdens.  When- 
ever his  "boys,"  as  he  called  them,  were  arraigned  and  tried 
for  some  violation  of  the  rules  of  war,  he  was  quite  willing 
to  investigate  and  ascertain,  if  possible,  the  causes  that  led  to 
such  violations.  He  often  interposed  with  his  pardoning  power 
when  he  found  the  verdict  of  the  military  court  martial  was 
too  severe  or  wholly  unjust. 

Permit  two  or  three  instances  to  suffice. 

During  the  early  period  of  the  war  a  young  soldier  was 
found  sleeping  on  his  picket  post  during  the  silent  hours  of  a 
dark  night.  He  was  duly  tried  by  a  military  court,  found 
guilty,  and  the  usual  verdict  of  death  pronounced.  The  young 
soldier's  mother,  who  was  a  widow,  tried  in  vain  to  secure  his 
release,  but  finally,  broken-hearted  and  nearly  distracted,  she 
appealed  to  the  President  in  person.  He  listened  to  her  pitiful 
story  and  learned  of  the  youthful  appearance  and  age  of  her 
boy,  and  readily  granted  the  pardon.  He  said  afterwards  to 
a  friend  that  in  all  probability  the  soldier  was  a  farmer  boy, 
accustomed  to  early  retiring,  and  it  was  a  most  natural  thing 
that  after  a  long  day's  marching,  through  dust  and  slime,  the 
boy  soldier,  footsore  and  weary,  should  merge  into  a  deep 
slumber  when  placed  on  picket  duty,  perchance  at  a  late  hour 
of  night.  He  further  stated  that  if  he  had  consented  to  his 
death  he  would  feel  that  the  boy's  blood  would  be  upon  his 
skirts  when  he  passed  into  eternity. 

The  unbounded  delight  of  the  poor  mother  can  better  be 
imagined  than  described.  It  is  said  that  she  fell  on  her  knees 
and  kissed  the  President's  feet,  but  he  quickly  raised  her  up 
and  bade  her  take  courage,  for  her  son  should  surely  live.  She 
subsequently  remarked  that  she  had  always  considered  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  from  pictures  seen,  a  very  homely  man,  but  now 


His  Generosity  and  Humor  241 

he  appeared  to  her  as  the  handsomest  man  that  mortal  eyes 
had  ever  beheld. 

During  the  dark  days  of  the  war  a  pale,  sorrowful  looking, 
old  man  was  seen  in  one  of  the  outer  rooms  of  the  Capitol, 
awaiting  an  opportunity  to  see  the  President.  It  happened  to 
be  a  busy  week,  and  no  one  was  permitted  by  the  doorkeeper 
to  visit  Mr.  Lincoln,  except  on  special  business.  But  each 
morning  for  three  or  four  days  the  old  gentleman  would  appear 
at  the  Capitol  and,  sitting  in  one  corner  of  the  great  hall,  await 
the  coming  of  the  President  or  seek  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
him.  One  day  a  kind-hearted  Congressman,  who  had  observed 
the  depressed  looking  man  there  in  the  hall  for  several  days, 
inquired  of  him  as  to  his  wishes,  and  proffered  him  any  aid 
that  he  might  be  able  to  render  him.  The  sorrowful  man  re- 
lated his  story,  viz:  that  his  soldier  son  had  slept  on  his  post, 
or  had  deserted  (I  forget  which),  and  had  been  tried  and  con- 
victed to  die.  The  Congressman  took  him  to  the  President  at 
once,  and  related  to  him  briefly  the  facts.  The  noble  Lincoln 
listened  attentively  to  the  statements  and  plea  of  the  poor  man, 
for  the  life  of  whose  son  executive  clemency  was  sought,  and 
then  sent  a  message  to  the  front,  saying:  "Suspend  the  execu- 
tion of  the  soldier  (naming  him)  till  you  receive  further 
orders  from  me.  A.  Lincoln."  The  father  of  the  condemned 
soldier  was  pleased,  but  not  quite  satisfied.  He  approached  the 
President  and,  in  a  trembling  voice,  said:  "I  hoped,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, you  would  grant  a  full  pardon  to  my  son."  The  reply 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  quite  laconic,  saying,  if  your  son  is  not 
shot  till  the  executioners  receive  orders  from  me,  he  will  live 
to  be  as  old  as  Methuselah. 

Enough  said.  The  old  gentleman  returned  home  with  a 
song  in  his  soul  and  love  for  the  great  Lincoln  enshrined  for- 
ever in  his  heart. 

At  one  time  during  the  war  period  there  seemed  to  be  an 


242  Abraham  Lincoln 

unusual  and  unfortunate,  stampede  of  deserting  soldiers  to 
the  North  and  to  Canada.  The  government  made  strenuous  and 
continuous  efforts  to  secure  their  arrest  and  return  to  their 
regiments.  Eighteen  of  these  deserters  were  at  one  time  arrested 
and  brought  to  speedy  trial  by  court  martial.  Their  guilt  was 
quickly  established,  and  a  verdict  of  death  soon  announced. 
Under  military  rules,  a  verdict  of  death  by  court  martial  could 
not  be  executed  without  approval  by  the  President. 

The  officers  of  the  court  and  commanding  generals,  know- 
ing the  natural  inclination  of  the  President's  mind  towards 
clemency,  besought  him  in  this  case  to  approve  the  ruling  of 
court,  and  order  the  execution  of  the  death  sentence.  They 
stated  to  the  President  that  the  discipline  of  the  army  required 
that  an  example  should  be  made  of  these  deserters,  in  order 
to  prevent  the  depletion  of  their  forces  by  continuous  deser- 
tions. Too  many,  sadly  too  many,  had  gone  already  unwhipped 
of  justice,  for  the  future  safety  and  proper  discipline  of  the 
army,  and  of  this  fact  Mr.  Lincoln  was  fully  apprised. 

All  of  these  circumstances  appealed  to  his  reason  and 
almost  won  his  assent.  Shortly,  however,  his  great  heart  out- 
weighed his  judgment,  and  he  said  to  himself:  "I  won't  do  it. 
These  soldiers  are  worth  more  to  their  country  above  the 
ground  that  below  it.  This  war  has  made  enough  widows 
throughout  this  great  land,  without  my  adding  to  the  number." 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  these  pardoned  deserters  were  there- 
after disposed  to  shed  their  last  drop  of  blood,  as  many  of 
them  doubtless  did,  in  defense  of  their  country  and  its  flag. 

General  Sherman  was  questioned  afterward  as  to  his  opin- 
ion regarding  the  President's  attitude  in  pardoning  so  many 
deserters,  and  his  reply  was  to  the  effect  that  it  did  not  affect 
him  (Sherman)  for  he  always  shot  his  deserters  first  and  then 
reported  to  the  President. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the 


His  Generosity  and  Humor  243 

champion  story-teller  of  his  state  and  age.  He  was  the  welcome 
guest  as  well  as  the  soul  and  inspiration  of  every  company  in 
which  he  usually  mingled  or  to  which  he  was  specially  invited. 

In  Congress  he  soon  established  a  reputation  as  an  eminent 
speaker,  but  his  reputation  as  an  entertaining  story-teller,  in 
the  lobbies,  at  social  functions  and  elsewhere,  was  soon  equally 
well  established.  Daniel  Webster,  the  great  expounder  of  the 
Constitution,  was  then  a  member  of  the  Senate,  and  occasion- 
ally invited  the  Western  Congressman,  Lincoln,  to  his  early 
breakfasts,  where  he  could  listen  to  his  humorous,  inspiring 
anecdotes. 

There  were  many  stories  prevalent  in  his  day  and  attributed 
to  Mr.  Lincoln  of  which  he  was  not  the  author.  However,  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  at  least  five  hundred  were  evolved  from  his 
fertile  brain,  which  he  frequently  used  and  to  telling  effect. 
It  is  said  of  Mr.  Lincoln  by  those  who  knew  him  best  that  he 
did  not  often  resort  to  this  method  of  speech  to  merely  enter- 
tain an  audience  or  amuse  a  crowd,  but  in  the  delivery  of  a 
public  address  or  in  the  trial  of  a  great  law  suit,  he  would 
relate  an  anecdote  or  tell  a  story  that  would  have  a  convinc- 
ing, a  powerful  effect  on  his  audience  or  the  jury  he  was  ad- 
dressing. This  he  did  to  enforce  a  point  or  to  enlarge,  beau- 
tify or  embellish  an  argument.  This  was  generally  produc- 
tive of  the  desired  result,  for  no  man  ever  had  a  greater  power 
of  application  than  he.  In  the  trial  of  many  great  law  cases 
in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  participant,  and  in  which  the  fate 
of  the  final  issue  seemed  to  hang  in  the  balance,  the  relation 
of  a  story  or  anecdote  pertinent  to  the  case,  by  him,  would 
frequently  turn  the  tide  of  battle  and  give  him  the  verdict.  At 
other  times  he  would  use  this  method  or  weapon  to  confront 
or  confound  his  opponents. 

It  will  be  remembered  by  my  older  readers  that  shortly 
after  Lincoln's  inauguration  and  the  appointment  of  his  cabi- 


244  Abraham  Lincoln 

net,  much  opposition  to  Simon  Cameron  as  Secretary  of  War, 
was  developed.  The  President  induced  Mr.  Cameron  to  change 
his  position  and  accept  an  appointment  as  minister  to  the 
Court  of  Russia.  Not  long  after  this,  and  before  the  appoint- 
ment of  Mr.  Stanton  as  Cameron's  successor,  a  delegation  of 
Senators  called  on  the  President  and  requested,  yea,  almost 
demanded  the  resignation  or  removal  of  the  balance  of  the 
cabinet  members.  There  were  seven  with  Cameron,  the  names 
of  the  others  being  Gideon  Wells,  Governor  Seward,  Caleb  B. 
Smith,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Montgomery  Blair  and  Edward 
Bates. 

The  demand  of  the  Senators  for  their  removal  was  more 
insistent  than  courteous.  The  President  listened  patiently  to 
the  solons,  and  then,  without  indicating  what  he  would  do, 
related  this  story :  "An  old  farmer  in  Illinois,  near  my  Spring- 
field home,  had  a  number  of  fowls.  One  night  there  was  a 
great  commotion  in  the  barnyard  among  the  poultry,  and  he 
was  satisfied  something  was  wrong.  He  seized  his  shotgun  and 
went  out  to  ascertain  the  trouble.  Shortly  he  spied  what  he 
called  seven  thieves.  He  drew  a  bead  and  killed  one.  He 
returned  then  to  the  house  where  he  was  met  by  his  wife  who 
had  heard  the  report  of  the  gun.  She  inquired  what  he  en- 
countered in  the  barnyard.  He  replied  that  he  had  found 
seven  thieves,  one  of  which  he  had  shot.  'Now,  John,'  said 
she,  'you  must  go  right  back  and  kill  them  all.'  'No,  Betsy 
Jane,'  replied  John,  'that  won't  do,  for  if  the  shooting  of  one 
produced  such  a  stench,  what  would  the  killing  of  all  seven 
do?' "  The  Senators  indulged  in  a  hearty  laugh  and  then  re- 
tired. This  was  the  last  the  President  heard  of  any  cabinet 
reconstruction. 

During  the  military  campaigns  of  1861-62,  while  Generals 
McDowell  and  McClellan  were  suffering  defeat  after  defeat 
in  the  East,  General  Grant  was  achieving  marvelous  victories 


His  Generosity  and  Humor  245 

in  the  West  and  Southwest.  In  the  early  months  of  '62  he 
fought  a  desperate  battle  at  Fort  Donelson.  During  the  first 
day  his  troops  were  badly  worsted,  but  the  second  and  third  he 
rallied  his  forces,  turned  the  tide  of  battle  and  repulsed  the 
enemy  with  a  great  slaughter.  Shortly  after  the  battle  a  rumor 
soon  became  current  that  the  defeat  of  Grant  of  the  first  day 
of  the  battle  was  due  to  the  fact  that  he  was  intoxicated.  This 
allegation  was  never  substantiated,  but  his  enemies  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  rumor  to  injure  him  and,  if  possible,  benefit 
themselves.  Shortly  after  the  battle  some  Congressmen  called 
upon  the  President,  protesting  against  the  further  continuance 
of  General  Grant  as  commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee. 
They  cited  the  alleged  fact  of  Grant's  intoxication  at  Fort  Don- 
elson, and  that  at  other  times  he  drank  too  much  to  be  fit  for 
so  responsible  a  position.  Some  assert  that  a  general  sought 
Grant's  removal  for  the  same  reason,  hoping,  it  was  thought, 
to  secure  the  position  himself. 

The  President  listened  to  the  plea  of  his  callers  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  then  inquired  if  they  knew  what  brand  of  whiskey 
General  Grant  was  in  the  habit  of  using.  They  thought  for  a 
moment,  and  then  replied  that  they  did  not  know.  The  Presi- 
dent expressed  the  wish  that  they  would  ascertain,  if  possible, 
the  particular  brand  thus  used  and  let  him  know;  "for,"  said 
he,  "I  would  like  to  get  some  of  it  for  distribution  among 
some  of  the  other  generals."  Mr.  Lincoln  was  never  bothered 
after  that  about  the  necessity  or  wisdom  of  superseding  the 
great  commander. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  during  the  first  months  of  the  war, 
General  Fremont,  then  commanding  the  Missouri  Department, 
issued  a  proclamation  abolishing  slavery  in  his  military  juris- 
diction. President  Lincoln,  thinking  the  time  was  not  ripe  for 
such  a  bold  procedure,  countermanded  the  order.  However, 
General   Fremont's  proclamation   enlisted  the  sympathy  and 


246  Abraham  Lincoln 

deep  interest  of  anti-slavery  people  throughout  the  nation, 
and  many  and  persistent  were  the  petitions  that  reached  the 
White  House,  asking  for  the  universal  abolition  of  slavery  by 
executive  proclamation.  Many  delegations  also  arrived,  one 
being  from  Chicago,  a  delegation  of  clergymen. 

The  gentlemen  of  the  cloth  requested  of  the  President  the 
early  abolition  of  slavery,  thinking  the  time  had  arrived  when 
such  a  movement  had  met  the  approval  of  the  masses,  and  that 
its  consummation  would  result  in  the  early  termination  of  the 
war.  The  noble  President  did  not  share  their  convictions, 
knowing  the  time  had  not  yet  arrived  for  such  precipitous 
action.  The  members  at  length  retired,  bidding  Mr.  Lincoln 
a  pleasant  good-bye,  bespeaking  for  him  a  successful  prosecu- 
tion of  the  war  and  hoping  for  its  early  termination. 

One  clergyman  tarried,  however,  that  he  might  have  a  pri- 
vate interview  with  the  President.  In  this  conversation  he  urged 
the  President,  perhaps  with  some  effrontery,  to  take  immediate 
action  along  the  line  suggested,  saying  that  the  Lord  had  re- 
vealed to  him  that  now  was  the  time,  the  opportune  time,  for 
the  President  to  move.  Mr.  Lincoln  smiled  and  then  replied 
jocosely  that  if  it  was  the  Lord's  wish  that  slavery  should  at 
once  be  abolished,  He  would  reveal  the  fact  direct  to  him, 
without  going  round  by  the  way  of  wicked  Chicago. 

Mr.  Lincoln  would  relate,  at  times,  some  of  his  laugh- 
provoking  stories  in  the  cabinet  meetings,  and  was  chided  once 
therefor  by  a  member.  He  replied  by  stating  what  was  evi- 
dently true,  that  while  feeling  the  weight  and  responsibility  of 
the  great  war,  if  he  could  not  give  vent  to  his  feelings  at  times, 
he  could  scarcely  survive.  A  few  more  of  his  humorous  stories 
follow: 

On  one  of  his  visits  to  the  army  in  Virginia  he  wished  to 
go  from  one  division  to  another,  and  was  driven  thereto  by  a 
soldier  with  a  span  of  mules.    The  soldier  found  it  necessary 


His  Generosity  and  Humor  247 

to  apply  the  whip  frequently  and  each  application  of  the  whip 
was  supplemented  by  an  oath.  The  President  watched  the  pro- 
ceedings patiently  for  a  while,  and  then  inquired  of  the  driver 
if  he  were  not  an  Episcopalian.  "No,"  was  the  quick  reply, 
"I  am  a  Methodist."  "Oh,  I  thought  you  must  be  an  Episco- 
palian," said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "because  you  swear  just  as  Governor 
Seward  does,  and  he  belongs  to  that  church."  It  is  said  that 
during  the  balance  of  the  journey  the  ears  of  the  passengers 
and  mules  as  well  were  not  disturbed  by  the  accustomed  vo- 
cabulary of  the  driver,  though  the  whip  was  brought  into  fre- 
quent requisition. 

In  a  former  chapter,  I  made  mention  of  the  great  happi- 
ness afforded  me  in  hearing  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Judge 
Douglas  in  the  first  of  their  memorable  debates  in  August, 
1858.  The  incident  named  below  did  not  occur,  as  I  recall, 
when  I  heard  these  renowned  statesmen. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  these  great  debates  were  held 
in  the  principal  cities  throughout  the  State  of  Illinois.  By 
previous  agreement  one  would  speak  for  an  hour,  the  other 
would  follow  in  an  address  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  the 
first  would  have  a  half-hour  for  rebuttal.  When  I  heard  them, 
Judge  Douglas  spoke  first.  On  all  these  occasions  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  clothed,  not  in  the  finest  attire  like  his  antagonist,  but  was 
covered  with  a  long  linen  duster.  At  one  of  these  meetings, 
it  is  said,  Mr.  Lincoln,  arising  to  reply  to  the  Judge,  took  off 
his  long  duster  and  handed  it  to  a  friend,  remarking  as  he  did 
so:  "Hold  my  coat  while  I  stone  Stephen."  You  can  easily 
imagine  the  merriment  it  occasioned. 

During  the  young  manhood  of  Lincoln,  while  he  was  yet 
studying  law,  by  common  consent  he  was  regarded  a  leader 
among  the  young  set.  This  was  true  in  manly  sports  and  in 
intellectual  pursuits.  Whenever  a  question  would  arise  in  their 
literary  gatherings,  the  solution  of  which  was  beyond  their  ken, 
they  would  say,  "Let  us  submit  it  to  Abe;  he  can  tell  us." 


248  Abraham  Lincoln 

On  one  occasion  the  question  was  presented  as  to  the  length 
a  man's  legs  ought  to  be,  in  order  to  be  in  due  proportion  to 
his  body.  No  one  being  able  to  give  a  satisfactory  answer  it 
was  turned  over  to  young  Lincoln.  "Well,"  said  he,  "that  is 
a  difficult  question.  Its  discussion  has  almost  precipitated  war 
among  some  nations,  like  the  War  of  the  Roses  in  early  Eng- 
lish history.  I  have  given  the  subject  much  thought  myself, 
but  after  deliberate  and  mature  consideration,  I  have  arrived 
at  this  conclusion:  that  a  man's  legs  ought  to  be  long  enough 
to  reach  from  his  body  to  the  ground."  That  answer  settled 
the  controversy. 

In  the  trial  of  legal  cases,  the  narration  of  an  apt  story 
or  an  anecdote  by  Lincoln  was  often  more  effective  with  the 
jury  than  lengthy  argumentation.  On  one  occasion,  when  de- 
fending a  man  for  assault  and  battery,  it  was  alleged  by  oppos- 
ing counsel  that  the  defendant  might  and  should  have  protected 
himself  without  inflicting  such  injury  on  his  assailant.  Young 
Lincoln  rejoined  as  follows:  "That  reminds  me  of  a  story. 
A  man  was  passing  a  farmhouse  one  day  and  was  attacked  by 
a  vicious  dog  belonging  to  the  farmer.  The  traveler  seized  a 
pitchfork  and  quickly  dispatched  the  dog.  The  farmer  was  in- 
dignant beyond  measure,  and  cried  out:  'What  made  you  kill 
my  dog?'  'What  made  him  try  to  bite  me?'  responded  the 
traveler.  'But  why  did  you  not  go  at  him  with  the  other  end 
of  the  pitchfork?'  asked  the  farmer.  'Well,  why  did  he  not 
come  at  me  with  the  other  end?'  was  the  reply."  Nuff  said. 
The  jury  gave  its  verdict  to  Lincoln,  as  this  writer  opines. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  once  invited  to  address  a  delegation  of 
editors  and,  in  his  remarks,  told  the  following  story.  It  was 
thought  by  many  that  he  had  reference  to  himself,  though  it 
did  not  so  appear.  He  stated  that  a  gentleman  was  walking 
through  the  woods  one  day  along  the  country  road,  and  met 
a  lady  on  horseback.    When  in  front  of  him  she  stopped  and 


His  Generosity  and  Humor  249 

remarked  abruptly,  looking  him  in  the  face:  "Law  me,  you 
are  the  homeliest  man  my  eyes  have  ever  beheld."  "I  know  it, 
madam,"  he  replied,  "but  I  can't  help  it."  She  hesitated  for  a 
moment  and  then  answered:  "Well,  then,  you  might  have 
stayed  at  home." 

The  disposition  to  retaliate  or  avenge  a  wrong  was  always 
foreign  to  the  kindly,  generous  mind  of  the  noble  Lincoln. 
This  was  shown  on  many  occasions. 

From  the  close  of  his  Congressional  career  in  1846,  to  the 
year  1858,  when  he  ran  for  United  States  Senator,  Lincoln 
devoted  himself  unceasingly  to  the  practice  of  law.  His  reputa- 
tion as  a  great  jury  lawyer  extended  to  many  cities  in  his  own 
and  adjacent  states.  In  1855  he  was  called  to  Cincinnati,  0., 
as  assistant  counsel  in  a  famous  case  wherein  Edwin  M.  Stan- 
ton and  George  Harding  were  also  employed.  They  were  attor- 
neys for  the  defendant.  It  was  soon  ascertained  that  the 
plaintiff  had  but  two  advocates  and  that  one  of  the  counsel  for 
defendant  must  withdraw.  A  fine  opportunity  for  the  display 
of  legal  lore  and  forensic  ability  in  this  noted  case  was  given, 
and  doubtless  both  the  famous  orators  coveted  it. 

Mr.  Stanton  was  chosen,  to  the  evident  chagrin  and  keen 
disappointment  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  had  come  a  long  distance 
and  presumably  desired  to  establish  a  record  or,  at  least,  to 
sustain  or  maintain  the  one  he  already  possessed.  However, 
the  pleasure  of  participating  in  the  celebrated  case  and  deliver- 
ing the  closing  address,  as  anticipated,  he  could  forego.  But 
the  discourtesy  he  received  from  Mr.  Stanton  while  in  the 
city  was  altogether  inexcusable,  and  added  to  Mr.  Lincoln's 
humiliation  and  disappointment.  Mr.  Stanton  expressed  his 
disdain  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  the  latter's  hearing,  in  language  as 
follows:  "Where  did  that  long-armed  creature  come  from,  and 
what  can  he  expect  to  do  in  this  case?"  He  described  him 
further  as  a  long,  lank  creature  from  Illinois  who  wore  a  linen 


250  Abraham  Lincoln 

duster,  with  perspiration  and  stains  on  the  back  sufficiently 
large  to  represent  a  map  of  the  continent.  That  was  almost 
adding  insult  to  injury. 

No  wonder  that  the  great  Lincoln  remarked  to  a  friend,  on 
returning  home,  that  he  "never  before  had  been  treated  so 
brutally  as  by  that  man  Stanton."  But  six  years  thereafter, 
Mr.  Lincoln  had  wholly  forgiven,  if  not  forgotten,  the  un- 
gentlemanly,  discourteous  remarks.  It  will  be  recalled  that  in 
the  summer  or  fall  of  '61,  Simon  Cameron  resigned  his  posi- 
tion as  Secretary  of  War,  and  that  Mr.  Edwin  M.  Stanton  was 
invited  by  the  magnanimous  President  to  become  Cameron's 
successor  and  come  into  his  official  family.  This  generous  act 
must  have  conquered  and  won  the  proud  heart  of  the  haughty 
barrister. 

The  President  knew,  doubtless,  that  Stanton  possessed  the 
qualities  that  would  admirably  adapt  him  to  the  position  to 
which  he  had  invited  him.  He  was  bold,  daring,  possessed  of 
an  iron  will,  resourceful,  and  a  man  of  distinguished  ability. 
His  marked  success  in  the  War  Department  during  the  three  or 
four  years  of  his  incumbency  fully  justified  the  wisdom  of  his 
appointment  by  the  President.  Whatever  adverse  opinion  the 
President  had  previously  entertained  towards  his  War  Secretary 
was  now  waived  and  fully  subordinated  to  the  one  all-absorb- 
ing thought  and  desire  that  the  war  might  be  successfully 
prosecuted  and  the  rebellion  quickly  suppressed.  NO  RETAL- 
IATION NOR  REVENGE  HERE,  YOU  SEE. 

In  the  Senatorial  campaign  of  1858,  concerning  which 
previous  mention  has  been  made,  it  was  often  necessary  to  ride 
on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  that  being  the  principal  if  not 
the  only  road  in  the  state  running  north  and  south.  At  this 
time,  George  B.  McClellan  was  vice-president  of  the  road. 

It  frequently  happened  that  Mr.  McClellan  would  accom- 


His  Generosity  and  Humor  251 

pany  Judge  Douglas  and  his  party  from  point  to  point  in  a 
special  car  and  a  finely  equipped  train,  while  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
compelled  to  ride  at  times  in  a  cattle  car  on  a  freight  train, 
to  his  different  appointments.  Sometimes  he  would  be  seen 
arriving  in  a  city  or  town,  wrapped  in  a  linen  duster,  by  the 
side  of  the  driver  in  an  old  prairie  schooner  drawn  by  a  mule 
team.  Such  was  the  disrespect,  not  to  say  indignity,  shown 
Mr.  Lincoln  by  Mr.  McClellan,  the  vice-president  of  the  road. 
Take  notice,  kind  reader,  as  to  what  happened  just  three  years 
thereafter. 

Shortly  after  the  Bull  Run  disaster,  in  July,  '61,  President 
Lincoln  found  it  necessary  to  secure  some  strong  military 
commander  to  lead  the  American  forces;  General  McDowell 
had  not  made  good,  and  General  Winfield  Scott,  in  his  age  and 
decrepitude,  was  unsuited  for  the  position.  At  the  suggestion 
of  General  Scott,  McClellan,  who  had  served  with  him  as 
captain  in  the  Mexican  war  fifteen  years  before,  was  invited 
to  Washington.  On  his  arrival,  he  was  placed  in  command 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  given  a  major-general's  com- 
mission by  the  President.  He  also  had  supreme  command  of 
all  the  American  Union  forces  for  many  months,  up  to  the 
time  that  General  Halleck  was  assigned  to  that  position. 

Think  you,  kind  reader,  that  the  noble  President,  in  hand- 
ing McClellan  his  commission  as  major-general,  a  bestow- 
ment  of  the  highest  military  honor  in  the  gift  of  the  executive, 
thought  of  the  unkind  treatment  accorded  him  by  McClellan 
a  few  years  before?  If  so,  it  was  not  apparent.  Such  mag- 
nanimity, such  greatness  of  mind  or  soul  are  seldom  if  ever 
found  in  any  or  all  the  pages  of  recorded  history. 


CHAPTER  II. 
His  Religious  Life 

The  early  religious  inspiration  and  training  of  young 
Abraham  was  received  from  his  mother,  at  her  knee. 
Her  dying  injunction  given  him  when  nine  years  old, 
to  love  his  sister  Sally  and  their  father,  in  their  loneliness; 
to  be  obedient  and  faithful  to  his  Lord  as  she  had  early  taught 
him,  and  make  the  Bible  his  constant  companion;  followed 
him  all  his  remaining  days.  His  facility  in  making  apt  and 
appropriate  scriptural  quotations  to  enforce  a  point  or  em- 
bellish an  argument  in  his  addresses,  revealed  his  familiarity 
with  the  Holy  Book.  This  was  true  in  his  early  and  maturer 
years.  In  his  great  debate  with  Douglas  in  '58,  he  quoted  a 
scriptural  passage  in  my  presence  that  became  very  effective 
in  molding  public  opinion  in  all  his  future  political  cam- 
paigns. It  was  similar  to  the  first  Revolutionary  shot  fired 
at  Bunker  Hill.     It  was  heard  around  the  world. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  illustrating  the  fact,  never  before  de- 
clared, that  our  country  could  not  long  endure,  half  slave  and 
half  free.  It  must  become  all  one  or  all  the  other.  Then  he 
clinched  the  fact  by  stating  that  "A  house  divided  against 
itself  cannot  stand." 

He  proceeded  to  say:  "I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be 
dissolved;  I  do  not  expect  the  house  will  fall,  but  I  do  expect 
it  will  cease  to  be  divided."  This  slogan  concerning  the  im- 
possibility of  the  house  standing  when  thus  divided  was  used 
with  wondrous  effect  in  all  subsequent  anti-slavery  addresses. 
It  aroused  public  sentiment,  as  never  before,  to  the  enormity 
of  the  slave  system  and  to  the  possibility  of  its  future  exten- 


His  Religious  Life  253 

sion.  It  was  thought  by  some  that  the  frequent  declaration 
and  extended  publicity  of  this  brief  though  potent  sentence 
was  as  effective  in  firing  the  American  heart  and  leading  to 
slavery's  early  overthrow  as  was  the  publication  in  1852  of 
Harriett  Beecher  Stowe's  great  work,  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

Mr.  Lincoln's  familiarity  with  scripture,  especially  with 
reference  to  its  condemnation  of  slavery  and  its  barbarism, 
was  shown  further  in  a  conversation  he  had  concerning  the 
attitude  of  the  clergy  on  the  question. 

A  few  days  prior  to  the  day  of  election  in  1860  (I  think 
it  was),  a  straw  vote  of  the  citizens  of  Springfield,  Illinois, 
was  taken  in  order  to  ascertain  in  advance,  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible, the  choice  of  each  voter  as  to  the  two  candidates  at  the 
approaching  election. 

The  result  of  the  primary  vote  was  shown  to  Mr.  Lincoln. 
He  stated  to  a  friend,  as  he  scanned  the  paper,  that  he  was 
desirous  of  knowing  how  the  Christian  citizens  of  the  city, 
especially  the  clergy,  stood  on  the  slavery  question.  There 
were  twenty-three  clergymen  of  all  denominations  in  the  city; 
and  to  his  deep  chagrin  and  mortification,  all,  with  three  ex- 
ceptions, voted  for  Douglas.  The  lines  of  political  demarca- 
tion had  been  so  closely  drawn  between  the  two  candidates 
that  fall  that  all  knew  that  a  vote  for  Douglas  meant  support 
for  the  institution  of  slavery,  with  its  probable  extension  and 
perpetuity  under  the  Douglas  slogan  of  popular  sovereignty. 
Those  voting  for  Mr.  Lincoln  knew,  also,  that  they  were  voting 
for  a  candidate  who  was  opposed  to  the  further  extension  of 
slavery  and  looked  hopefully  for  the  day  when  it  would  be  in 
the  course  of  ultimate  and  complete  extinction. 

When  the  great  Commoner  saw  that  twenty  of  the  twenty- 
three  resident  ministers  had  voted  for  the  Little  Giant,  as 
Douglas  was  called,  his  heart  sank  within  him.  He  remarked, 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that  these  men  did  not  read  their  Bibles 


254  Abraham  Lincoln 

aright.  He  stated  that  he  did  not  claim  to  be  a  Christian, 
though  he  wished  he  were,  but  he  had  carefully  read  the  Bible 
and  did  not  so  understand  this  Book.  He  was  conscious  in  his 
great  heart  that  these  teachers  and  preachers  of  Gospel  truth 
were  wrong  in  their  interpretation  of  the  Holy  Book,  and  felt 
that  his  position  was  correct  and  would  soon  be  vindicated. 

I  desire  to  remark,  incidentally,  how  different  was  the  atti- 
tude of  the  clergy  in  the  recent  past  in  their  efforts  to  secure 
the  suppression  of  the  liquor  traffic.  It  is  well  known,  or  at 
least  should  be,  that  without  their  powerful  influence,  rum- 
suppression,  incident  to  the  adoption  of  the  Eighteenth  Amend- 
ment, would  never  have  been  effected.  The  clergy  and  mem- 
bership of  a  small  denomination  and  small  influence  seemed  to 
be  lukewarm  and  indifferent  to  the  all-absorbing,  paramount 
question  of  national  prohibition,  but  not  so  with  the  great  body 
of  American  clergymen. 

The  loyal  and  effective  support  of  the  church  laymen  and 
laywomen  in  their  effort  to  secure  legal  supremacy  over  the 
liquor  demon  deserves  special  recognition,  and  this  recogni- 
tion and  approval  all  good  people  everywhere  will  accord 
them.  This  speaks  volumes  for  the  Christian  citizenship  and 
Christian  civilization  of  our  great  Republic. 

President  Lincoln  was  a  constant  reader  of  the  Holy  Bible 
and  during  the  dark  days  of  the  war  would  often  turn  to  its 
pages  for  comfort,  strength  and  inspiration. 

He  once  remarked  that  the  Bible  was  the  best  Book  God 
ever  gave  to  man;  and  if  we  would  take  as  much  of  it  by 
reason  as  we  could,  and  the  rest  by  faith,  we  would  live  and 
die  better  men  and  women.  On  one  occasion  the  wife  of  a 
Confederate  captain  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  and  placed 
in  confinement  called  on  the  President,  having  secured  transfer 
through  our  lines,  and  requested  the  liberation  of  her  husband. 
In  her  plea  for  his  freedom  she  presented  several  and  various 


His  Religious  Life  255 

reasons  why  he  should  be  thus  freed,  and  to  each  one  the 
President  gave  a  negative  reply.  Finally  she  stated  that  her 
husband  was  a  Christian  and  for  that  reason  she  thought  he 
deserved  his  freedom.  Mr.  Lincoln  quickly  replied,  saying 
that  a  man  who  believed  in  holding  men  in  bondage  and  who 
was  disposed  to  eat  his  bread  produced  by  the  sweat  of  an- 
other man's  brow,  did  not  possess  that  kind  of  religion  that 
would  take  him  to  Heaven. 

In  the  fall  of  1862,  after  our  forces  had  suffered  continu- 
ous defeats  at  Bull  Run,  under  McDowell;  in  the  Virginia 
campaign,  under  McClellan ;  and  at  Manassas  Junction,  known 
as  the  second  Bull  Run  battle,  under  Pope;  everything  from 
the  Union  standpoint  looked  extremely  foreboding.  General 
McClellan  was  moving  his  forces  northward  through  Maryland, 
and  a  battle  at  Antietam,  Pennsylvania,  was  expected  any  day. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  usually  brave,  was  at  this  time  much  depressed. 
He  went,  where  he  had  often  gone  before,  to  his  Maker  and 
Lord,  and  promised  Him,  if  he  would  bring  victory  to  the 
Union  army  at  the  approaching  battle  at  Antietam,  he  (Lin- 
coln) would  proceed  to  do  what  he  had  often  thought  of 
doing,  issue  his  Emancipation  Proclamation,  giving  freedom 
to  the  bond  men. 

On  September  17th,  the  battle  was  fought,  a  most  san- 
guinary conflict,  and  victory  crowned  our  efforts.  The  heart 
of  the  President  was  greatly  rejoiced,  as  was  that  of  all  the 
Nation;  since  this  was  the  first  Union  victory  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  great  war,  a  year  and  a  half  before.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  true  to  the  covenant  he  had  previously  made  with  his  Lord, 
and  on  the  22nd  of  that  month  (September)  he  wrote  and 
submitted  to  his  Cabinet  his  preliminary  Emancipation  Proc- 
lamation, reciting  among  other  things:  "That  on  the  first  day 
of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  sixty-three,  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  any 


256  Abraham  Lincoln 

state  or  designated  part  of  a  state,  the  people  whereof  shall 
then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  shall  be  then, 
thenceforward,  and  forever  free;  and  the  Executive  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  including  the  military  and  naval 
authority  thereof,  will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom 
of  such  persons,  and  will  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such 
persons,  or  any  of  them,  in  any  effort  they  may  make  for  their 
actual  freedom." 

This  was  heartily  approved  by  each  of  the  seven  cabinet 
members  who  were  present.  This  was  issued  as  a  war  measure, 
though  doubtless  the  heart  of  the  great  President  would  have 
desired  it  absolutely  and  without  any  qualifications  or  re- 
strictions; but  he  knew  that  the  sentiment  of  the  people  then 
would  scarcely  have  approved  it.  At  the  expiration  of  the 
hundred  days  previously  named,  to-wit:  on  the  first  day  of 
January,  1863,  none  of  the  slave  states  having  ceased  their 
warfare  and  resumed  their  allegiance  to  the  Federal  Union, 
the  President  proceeded  to  redeem  his  promise  and  issued  to 
the  South  and  the  nation  what  is  known  as  one  of  the  great 
state  papers  of  the  world,  his  final  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion, giving  freedom  forever  to  four  millions  of  a  hitherto 
fettered,  enslaved  race. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  reading  of  this  remarkable  state 
document,  at  the  President's  suggestion,  all  bowed  their  heads 
and  on  bended  knees  invoked  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  the 
great  measure  they  had  that  day  approved  and  published  to 
the  world. 

I  have  before  alluded  to  a  similar  incident  having  occurred 
in  the  Cabinet  room  (and  it  will  bear  repetition)  when  on 
receipt  of  the  news  of  Lee's  surrender  the  President  and  his 
whole  Cabinet  bowed  their  heads  and  in  silence  and  tears 
sobbed  their  gratitude  and  thanksgiving  to  the  great  Father  of 
all  Mercies  for  recent  victories  and  for  His  marvelous  deliver- 


His  Religious  Life  257 

ance  of  the  enemy  into  their  hands.  Such  manifestations  of 
praise  could  emanate  from  none  other  than  those  who  have  an 
abiding  faith  in  the  over-ruling  providence  of  God  and  His 
divine  goodness  to  the  children  of  men.  Mr.  Lincoln  greatly 
endeared  himself  to  the  American  people  by  his  humble  trust 
and  reliance  on  the  Divine  favor  during  the  sad  days  of  the 
civil  war. 

On  one  of  those  dark  days,  when  the  fate  of  the  Nation 
seemed  to  hang  in  a  balance,  Bishop  Simpson,  an  eminent 
divine  of  Philadelphia,  called  on  the  President.  He  was 
always  a  welcome  guest  at  the  White  House,  and  frequently 
came  at  Mr.  Lincoln's  request.  After  a  pleasant  though  some- 
what sad  discussion  of  the  condition  of  the  country  and  the 
possible  outcome  of  the  existing  struggle,  the  bishop  arose  to 
bid  the  President  good  day,  when  the  latter  requested  him  to 
tarry  and  pray  with  him,  saying  that  he  was  often  driven  to 
his  knees  with  the  overwhelming  conviction  that  he  had  no- 
where else  to  go;  that  his  own  wisdom  and  that  of  all  about 
him  was  insufficient  for  the  needs  of  that  day.  The  bishop 
bowed  in  prayer,  the  noble  President  kneeling  at  his  side, 
and  invoked  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  the  stricken  country, 
on  the  noble  boys  at  the  front,  and  especially  on  the  great 
Executive,  that  he  might  have  wisdom  and  endurance  to  prose- 
cute the  war  to  a  successful  termination.  Doubtless,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln responded  with  a  fervent  "Amen"  at  the  close  of  the 
invocation. 

Mr.  Lincoln  often  showed  his  appreciation  of  the  co- 
operation and  sympathy  of  church  boards  and  other  organiza- 
tions as  expressed  to  him  during  the  perilous  days  of  the  war. 

In  1864,  a  delegation  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
Conference  called  on  him  at  the  White  House  to  assure  him 
of  their  loyalty  and  hearty  support  during  the  pending  strug- 
gle.    The  President  replied  in  his  trenchant,  significant  way, 


258  Abraham  Lincoln 

saying:  "God  bless  all  the  churches,  especially  the  Methodist 
Church,  which  has  sent  more  soldiers  to  the  front,  more  nurses 
to  the  hospitals  and  more  prayers  to  Heaven  for  our  country 
than  any  other  church  in  America." 

In  the  fall  of  1865,  I  heard  Bishop  Simpson,  the  same 
bishop  as  named  above,  allude  to  the  following  incident.  He 
stated  that  during  the  previous  April  he  was  holding  an  annual 
conference  in  Washington,  similar  to  the  one  he  was  then 
holding  in  Iowa.  At  the  conference  he  was  urging  his  min- 
isters, as  was  his  custom,  to  be  faithful  and  true  in  all  their 
public  services;  for  there  would  be  some  in  each  service,  per- 
haps, who  would  hear  the  gospel  message  for  the  last  time. 
As  he  was  thus  preaching  he  looked  down  the  aisle,  he  said, 
and  there  sat  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  Little  did  he  think  that  that  would  be  the  last  gospel 
sermon  to  which  Mr.  Lincoln  would  ever  listen,  but  such  it 
proved  to  be.  The  narration  of  that  incident,  spoken  by  the 
bishop  in  tender,  sympathetic  words,  made  a  profound  impres- 
sion on  the  members  of  that  great  Iowa  conference. 

Little  wonder  that  when  a  few  days  later,  in  April,  the 
assassin's  bullet  had  done  its  deadly  work,  Mrs.  Lincoln  and 
family  invited  the  great  bishop  to  accompany  them  and  the 
funeral  cortege  to  their  far-away  Springfield  home,  that  he 
might  perform  the  last  sad  rites  before  the  dear  form  was  laid 
away  in  its  final  resting  place. 

A  young  lady  of  eminent  piety  who  had  been  an  active 
worker  on  many  battlefields  and  in  hospitals,  surrounded  by 
and  caring  for  the  sick  and  dying,  was  late  in  the  war  a  guest 
at  the  White  House.  She  had  administered  religious  consola- 
tion to  the  dying  soldier  as  well  as  caring  for  and  dressing 
his  wounds  while  living.  The  President  highly  prized  her  for 
the  sympathetic,  religious  service  as  well  as  the  bodily  care 
she  had  rendered  soldiers  on  battlefields  and  elsewhere.     She 


His  Religious  Life  259 

was  evidently  a  lovely  character,  and  would  stamp  the  impress 
of  her  sweet  spirit  on  the  minds  of  all  with  whom  she  would 
come  in  contact. 

One  day  President  Lincoln  asked  her  what  in  her  judgment 
constituted  a  Christian.  She  replied  in  a  way  that  was  satis- 
factory and  conclusive  to  Mr.  Lincoln  as  evidenced  by  his 
answer.  She  gave  what  I  think  is  the  generally  accepted 
opinion  of  Protestantism,  and  promulgated  by  it,  that  we  are 
saved  by  the  mediatorial  sacrifice  of  our  Divine  Lord,  through 
repentance  and  faith.  She  doubtless  illustrated  it  further  by 
reference  to  the  Savior's  conversation  with  Nicodemus,  re- 
corded in  John  3:3  and  in  John  3:16.  She  also  may  have 
alluded  to  the  reply  of  Paul  to  the  Phillipian  jailer  when  he 
inquired  of  the  great  apostle:  "What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?" 
recorded  in  Acts  16:31.  The  President  listened  attentively  to 
this  interesting,  inspiring  conversation  and  then  replied:  "Miss 
(giving  her  name),  if  all  this  is  true,  then  I  am  a  Christian." 

One  day  a  man  of  note  called  on  the  President  at  the 
White  House  and  engaged  him  in  conversation.  During  the 
conversation  the  visitor  swore.  The  interview  was  closed  at 
once.  The  President  dismissed  him,  and  leading  him  to  the 
door,  remarked:  "I  supposed  you  were  a  gentleman.  Good 
day,  sir." 

During  the  sad  days  of  the  bloody  conflict,  some  person 
remarked  to  President  Lincoln  that  he  hoped  the  Lord  was  on 
our  side.  Mr.  Lincoln  quickly  replied  that  such  a  thought  had 
not  given  him  much  concern.  His  supreme  desire  was  that 
"we  might  be  on  the  Lord's  side,  for  the  Lord  is  always  on 
the  right  side." 

I  have  already  written  at  length  concerning  the  three  days' 
battle  at  Gettysburg,  perhaps  the  greatest  and  most  sanguinary 
of  the  Civil  War.  During  a  hotly  contested  engagement,  Gen- 
eral Daniel  Sickles,  a  brave  major-general,  lost  his  leg.     He 


260  Abraham  Lincoln 

was  taken  at  once  to  a  hospital  at  Washington.  As  soon  as 
the  President  heard  of  his  arrival  in  the  Capital,  he  hastened  to 
his  bedside.  General  Sickles,  thinking  perhaps  that  the  Presi- 
dent had  not  yet  learned  of  the  good  news  from  the  front, 
remarked  that  the  deciding  battle  had  been  fought  and  that 
the  victory  was  ours. 

"0,  yes,"  Mr.  Lincoln  replied,  "I  knew  we  would  be  vic- 
torious for  I  prayed  till  midnight  that  night,  and  had  the 
assurance  from  the  Lord  that  our  boys  would  win  the  day." 


CHAPTER  III. 
His  Gift  of  Speech 

IT  has  been  said  that  "some  are  born  great,  some  achieve 
greatness  and  some  have  greatness  thrust  upon  them."  I 
think  it  may  be  said,  with  almost  universal  assent,  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  belonged  to  the  middle  class;  for  if  any  man  ever 
achieved  greatness  and  renown  by  means  of  his  own  unaided 
effort,  in  spite  of  persistent,  often  bitter,  opposition,  it  was 
Abraham  Lincoln.  His  early  education,  limited  as  it  was, 
and  his  environment,  unfortunate  as  it  was,  failed  to  dampen 
his  ambition  for  advancement.  They  rather  inspired  his 
young  heart  with  an  eager,  yea  burning,  desire  to  pursue  his 
studies,  unassisted  by  others,  until  he  should  arrive  at  a  posi- 
tion where  he  would  be  recognized  as  a  man  of  respectable, 
if  not  superior,  literary  and  legal  attainments.  That  the  goal 
of  his  ambition  was  in  due  time  reached,  no  one  who  knew 
him  well  will  deny. 

It  might  be  said  of  Abraham  Lincoln  what  was  said  of 
Edmund  Burke,  the  great  English  orator  and  statesman,  that 
he  read  everything  and  remembered  everything.  This  was 
especially  true  in  his  young  manhood,  when  good  books  and 
fine  literature  became  more  available.  It  is  also  quite  evident 
that  in  early  life  and  later  years  he  aspired  to  oratorical  pre- 
eminence and  distinction. 

It  often  occurs  that  men  of  genius  have  given  in  early  life 
indication  of  their  latent  talent  or  bent  of  mind,  and  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  no  exception.  Thus  Handel,  the  great  German 
composer,  at  the  age  of  seven,  sought  for  and  secured  the  best 
music   teacher    obtainable.      John    Stuart   Mill,   the   eminent 


262  Abraham  Lincoln 

writer  and  publicist,  began  the  study  of  the  classics,  Latin 
and  Greek,  at  the  age  of  six,  I  believe.  Elihu  Burritt,  some- 
times called  the  learned  blacksmith,  began  the  study  of 
languages  in  early  life  and  subsequently  became  the  most  dis- 
tinguished or  one  of  the  most  distinguished  linguists  in 
America. 

Young  Abraham  may  not  have  displayed  or  unfolded  his 
latent  talent  as  early  as  did  the  others  named,  but  his  ruling 
passion  for  speaking  was  soon  manifested. 

Oftentimes  in  his  early  teens,  he  would  betake  himself  to 
some  quiet  place  in  the  adjacent  dense  forest  and  pour  out  his 
youthful,  fervent  eloquence  to  trees  and  stumps,  which  were 
his  silent  and  only  auditors.  This  practice,  supplemented  by 
public  debates  in  the  neighborhood  log  school  houses,  gave 
him  a  facility  and  effectiveness  in  public  address  that  were  at 
once  attractive  and  entertaining.  It  was  said  that  frequently 
while  young  Lincoln  was  yet  a  law  student  he  would  be  called 
upon  to  reply  to  some  Democratic  orator  in  New  Salem;  and 
by  his  forceful  logic  and  equally  forceful  sarcasm  and  apt 
anecdotes  would  give  proof  to  the  fact  that  he  was  able  to 
cope  with  the  best  of  them. 

His  remarkable  ability  as  a  public  speaker  led  to  his  early 
entrance  into  politics,  for  it  will  be  remembered  that  following 
his  return  from  the  Black  Hawk  War  and  while  he  was  yet  a 
young  man  he  was  elected  four  times  to  the  State  Legislature 
and  thence  to  Congress.  But  his  forensic  oratorical  ability 
became  best  known  to  the  American  people  and  to  the  world, 
perhaps,  by  his  memorable  debates  with  Judge  Douglas  during 
the  Senatorial  campaign  of  1858.  These  great  addresses 
stamped  Mr.  Lincoln  as  an  orator,  political  orator,  having 
few,  if  any,  equals  and  no  superior  on  the  American  platform. 

His  Cooper  Institute  speech  in  New  York,  delivered  in 
February,  1860,  was  the  most  remarkable,  or  one  of  the  most 


His  Gift  of  Speech  263 

remarkable,  addresses  he  ever  delivered,  excepting,  or  scarcely 
excepting,  his  famous  lost  speech,  of  which  previous  mention 
has  been  made. 

There  were  many  noted  editors  present,  like  Horace 
Greeley,  William  Cullen  Bryant  and  others,  who  gave  extended 
publicity  to  the  speech  and  speaker.  This  brought  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  the  fore  and  gave  him  and  his  cause  proper  recognition  in 
the  East  and  New  England  states.  These  great  addresses 
brought  him  to  the  favorable  notice  of  the  masses  and  early 
stamped  him  as  a  most  feasible  presidential  candidate  for 
nomination  at  the  forthcoming  Republican  national  con- 
vention. 

If  there  were  any  people  who  were  not  fully  advised  as  to 
the  distinguished  ability  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  both  as  a  writer  and 
orator,  a  knowledge  of  this  noted  five-minute  speech  would 
reassure  them.  This  short  address  is  regarded  by  critics  as 
the  brightest  gem  in  all  the  realm  or  domain  of  English 
literature. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  and  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  time  and  place  of  writing  this  brief  but  world  re- 
nowned document.  Many  assert  that  it  was  written  on  the 
knee  of  the  President  while  we  was  journeying  from  Washing- 
ton to  Gettysburg. 

This  was  emphatically  denied  by  a  lawyer  friend  of  mine, 
Hon.  Cornelius  Cole  of  Los  Angeles  (deceased  at  102)  whose 
office  for  fourteen  years  was  across  the  street  from  mine. 

He  was  in  Congress,  either  in  the  lower  or  upper  house, 
during  the  entire  period  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  incumbency,  and 
rode  with  the  President  in  the  same  car  all  the  way  to  Gettys- 
burg and  stood  by  his  side  the  next  day  during  the  delivery 
of  the  address.  He  asserted  to  me  that  not  a  word  was  written 
by  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  journey. 

The  presumption  of  many,  and  especially  of  the  gentle- 


264  Abraham  Lincoln 

man  at  Gettysburg  who  entertained  him  overnight,  is  that  the 
President  wrote  part  of  his  address  at  the  White  House  shortly 
before  leaving,  and  finished  it  early  next  morning  at  the  home 
of  his  host,  before  the  beginning  of  the  services  which  were 
at  10  a.  m. 

Senator  Cole  often  remarked  that  at  the  close  of  the  ad- 
dress, which  was  read,  not  much  enthusiasm  was  manifested, 
though  now  it  is  regarded,  as  all  know,  as  one  of  the  greatest, 
if  not  the  greatest,  state  paper  known  in  all  the  annals  of 
history,  sacred  or  profane.  It  is  now  rehearsed  in  all  the 
public  patriotic  gatherings,  especially  at  the  yearly  Lincoln 
memorial  services;  and  doubtless  will  be  read  by  admiring 
multitudes  as  long  as  time  and  memory  endure. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Senator  Edward  Everett,  an  eminent 
orator  and  statesman,  was  chosen  to  deliver  the  main  address 
on  the  occasion,  a  duty  and  privilege  he  discharged  with 
marked  ability,  consuming  an  hour  or  more  in  its  delivery,  but 
this  brief,  300-word  message  of  President  Lincoln  will  be 
read  with  mingled  admiration  and  approval  long  after  the 
learned  Senator  and  his  oration  shall  have  been  forgotten. 

Charles  A.  Dana,  the  noted  editor,  called  on  the  great  War 
Secretary  the  next  day  after  the  Gettysburg  celebration,  and 
asked  him  if  he  had  seen  these  Gettysburg  speeches. 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "and  the  people  will  be  delighted  with 
them.  Edward  Everett  has  made  a  speech  that  will  make  many 
columns  in  the  newspapers,  and  Mr.  Lincoln's  perhaps  forty 
or  fifty  lines.  Everett's  is  the  speech  of  a  scholar,  polished  to 
the  last  possibility.  It  is  elegant  and  it  is  learned,  but  Lin- 
coln's speech  will  be  read  by  a  thousand  men  where  one  reads 
Everett's,  and  will  be  remembered  as  long  as  anybody's 
speeches  are  remembered  who  speaks  the  English  language." 

Bliss  Perry,  also  a  noted  writer,  speaking  on  this  subject 
says:   "To   have  composed   the   Gettysburg   address   is   proof 


His  Gift  of  Speech  265 

positive,  were  there  no  other,  of  Lincoln's  place  among  the 
masters  of  English  speech." 

Following  is  a  copy  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  address,  the  original 
being,  I  suppose,  in  the  archives  of  the  State  or  War  Depart- 
ment of  the  government  at  Washington.  It  is  written  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  beautifully  characteristic  handwriting,  and  can  be 
read  as  easily  as  print. 

Address  delivered  at  the  dedication  of  the  cemetery  at  Get- 
tysburg: 

"Four  score  and  seven  years  ago,  our  fathers  brought  forth 
on  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  Liberty  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

"Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether 
that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated  can 
long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battlefield  of  that  war. 
We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field,  as  a  final 
resting  place  for  those  who  have  given  their  lives  that  that 
nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we 
should  do  this. 

"But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  can  not  dedicate,  we  can  not  con- 
secrate, we  can  not  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living 
and  dead,  who  struggled  here  have  consecrated  it,  far  above  our 
poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note,  nor 
long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what 
they  did  here. 

"It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the 
unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here  have  thus  far  so 
nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the 
great  task  remaining  before  us,  that  from  these  honored  dead 
we  take  increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave 
the  last  full  measure  of  devotion,  that  we  here  highly  resolve 
that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain,  that  this  nation, 
under  God  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that  govern- 


266  Abraham  Lincoln 

ment  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not 
perish  from  the  earth." 

November  19,  1863.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

A  few  months  before  his  assassination,  President  Lincoln 
received  a  report  from  Governor  Andrews  of  Massachusetts, 
conveying  the  sad  intelligence  of  the  death,  in  the  army,  of 
five  sons  of  a  lady  who  resided  in  that  Commonwealth.  He 
at  once  penned  her  a  letter  (of  which  the  following  is  a  copy) 
so  full  of  sympathetic  regard  and  condolence,  in  her  hour  of 
supreme  bereavement,  as  to  deserve,  as  it  shall  have,  a  place 
in  this,  my  historic  sketch  of  the  great  War  President. 

Executive  Mansion, 
Washington,  Nov.  21,  1864. 
To  Mrs.  Bixby,  Boston,  Mass. 

Dear  Madam:  I  have  been  shown  in  the  files  of 
the  War  Department  a  statement  of  the  Adjutant- 
General  of  Massachusetts  that  you  are  the  mother  of 
five  sons  who  have  died  gloriously  on  the  field  of 
battle.  I  feel  how  weak  and  fruitless  must  be  any 
words  of  mine  which  should  attempt  to  beguile  you 
from  the  grief  of  a  loss  so  overwhelming.  But  I 
cannot  refrain  from  tendering  you  the  consolation 
that  may  be  found  in  the  thanks  of  the  republic 
they  died  to  save.  I  pray  that  our  Heavenly  Father 
may  assuage  the  anguish  of  your  bereavement  and 
leave  you  only  the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved 
and  lost  and  the  solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours  to 
have  laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  free- 
dom.    Yours  very  sincerely  and  respectfully, 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


His  Gift  of  Speech  267 

A  writer  of  note,  in  speaking  of  this  letter,  says:  "It  will 
go  down  to  posterity  as  one  of  the  finest  expressions  of  con- 
dolence and  sympathy  ever  penned  in  our  language."  It  is 
further  said  that  "a  copy  of  this  letter  hangs  on  the  wall  in 
Brasenose  College,  Oxford  University,  England,  as  a  model  of 
pure  and  exquisite  diction  which  has  never  been  excelled." 

Before  closing,  I  desire  to  quote  a  few  concluding  passages 
from  President  Lincoln's  second  inaugural  address.  They  are 
quite  remarkable,  as  you  will  see,  and  as  beautiful  as  remark- 
able. I  may  have  referred  to  them  before,  and  if  so,  they  will 
bear  repetition.  In  referring  to  this  address,  one  writer  says: 
"No  nobler  thoughts  were  ever  conceived.  No  man  ever  found 
words  more  adequate  to  his  desire."  Read  and  re-read  the 
following  lines,  almost  divinely  inspired,  as  we  opine,  begin- 
ning: "Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this 
mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedly  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God 
wills  that  it  continue  until  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk, 
and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be 
paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thou- 
sand years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  'The  judgments  of  the 
Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether.'  With  malice  toward 
none;  with  charity  for  all;  with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God 
gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work 
we  are  in;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds;  to  care  for  him 
who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow,  and  his 
orphan,  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and 
lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all  nations." 

A  few  days  after  the  delivery  of  the  above  named  address, 
President  Lincoln  received  a  short  letter  from  Thurlow  Weed, 
an  eminent  editor  of  New  York  City,  complimenting  him  over 
the  said  address  and  a  former  notification  speech. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  reply  follows: 


268  Abraham  Lincoln 

Executive  Mansion, 
Washington,  March  15,  1865. 
Dear  Mr.  Weed: 

Everyone  likes  a  compliment.  Thank  you  for 
yours  on  my  little  notification  speech  and  on  the 
recent  inaugural  address. 

I  expect  the  latter  to  wear  as  well  as,  perhaps 
better  than,  anything  I  have  produced;  but  I  believe 
it  is  not  immediately  popular.  Men  are  not  flattered 
by  being  shown  that  there  has  been  a  difference  of 
purpose  between  the  Almighty  and  them.  To  deny 
it,  however,  in  this  case,  is  to  deny  that  there  is  a 
God  governing  the  world.  It  is  a  truth  which  I 
thought  needed  to  be  told,  and  as  whatever  of  humili- 
ation there  is  in  it  falls  most  directly  on  myself,  I 
thought  others  might  afford  for  me  to  tell  it. 
Truly  yours, 

A.  Lincoln. 

The  president  of  an  Eastern  college  stated  in  substance  a 
few  years  ago  that  the  translators  of  the  English  Bible  in  1611 
were  not  only  men  of  eminent  piety,  but  men  of  distinguished 
literary  attainments.  He  further  stated  that  no  writers  since 
their  day  possessed  in  an  equal  degree,  their  ability  to  express 
themselves  in  forceful,  charming  English,  embellished  with  a 
diction  so  elegant  and  refined.  Abraham  Lincoln,  he  said, 
came  the  nearest  to  the  translators  in  this  admirable  quality 
of  mind  and  heart  of  any  person  he  ever  knew.  What  a  com- 
pliment! 

The  college  president  would  pass  over  such  world  re- 
nowned, classical  writers  as  Lord  Macaulay,  Charles  Dickens, 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  John  Ruskin,  Thomas  Carlyle,  Beaconsfield 
and   others   of  Europe;    and   such  writers   as  James  Russell 


His  Gift  of  Speech  269 

Lowell,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Henry  W.  Longfellow,  Will- 
iam Cullen  Bryant,  Washington  Irving  and  others  in  America, 
pass  over  all  these  and  place  the  crown  of  superior  literary 
attainment  and  merit  on  the  head  of  the  humble,  yet  immortal 
Lincoln.  The  eminent  educator  is  not  alone  in  his  admiration 
of  this  distinguishing  quality  of  the  great  Commoner's  mind. 
Hear  what  the  London  Spectator  has  to  say,  touching  the 
same  opinion:  "It  is  not  too  much  to  say  of  Lincoln  that  he 
is  among  the  greatest  masters  of  prose  ever  produced  by  the 
English  race." 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Sayings  of  Abraham  Lincoln 

Here   are  some  of  the  great,   short  sayings   of  Abraham 

Lincoln: 

"Work,  work,  work — keep  pegging  away." 

"Give  the  boys  a  chance." 

"Hold  on  with  a  bulldog  grip." 

"I  can  bear  censure,  but  not  insult." 

"Never  regret  what  you  don't  write." 

"I  am  nothing,  but  truth  in  everything." 

"Don't  swap  horses  in  crossing  a  stream." 

"This  nation  should  be  on  the  Lord's  side." 

"Public  opinion  in  this  country  is  everything." 

"Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might." 

"I  am  free  from  any  taint  of  personal  triumph." 

"Wealth  is  a  superfluity  of  what  we  don't  need." 

"If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  then  nothing  is  wrong." 

"With  malice  towards  none,  with  charity  for  all." 

"The  gentleman  smelt  no  royalty  in  our  carriage." 

"Many  have  got  into  a  habit  of  being  dissatisfied." 

"I  know  that  I  am  right,  for  liberty  is  right." 

"I  will  hold  McClellan's  horse,  if  he  will  win  a  battle." 

"Is  a  man  to  blame  for  having  a  pair  of  cowardly  legs?" 

"Where  you  can't  remove  an  obstacle,  plow  around  it." 

"That  some  are  rich  shows  that  others  may  become  rich." 

"If  you  have  made  a  bad  bargain,  hug  it  all  the  tighter." 

"Come  what  will,  I  will  keep  my  faith  with  friend  and  foe." 

"My  politics  are  short  and  sweet,   like  an  old  woman's 

dance." 


Sayings  of  Abraham  Lincoln  271 

"If  elected  I  shall  be  thankful,  if  not  it  will  be  all  the 
same." 

"With  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the 
right." 

"God  bless  my  mother.  All  I  am  or  hope  to  be,  I  owe 
to  her." 

"We  might  just  as  well  take  the  people  into  our  confidence." 

"My  paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is  to  save  the 
Union." 

"What  use  to  me  would  be  a  second  term  if  I  had  no 
country?" 

"With  a  brave  army  and  a  just  cause,  may  God  sustain 
you." 

"Faith  in  God  is  indispensable  to  successful  statesmanship." 

"When  you  have  written  a  wrathful  letter,  put  it  in  the 
stove." 

"Suspicion  and  jealousy  never  did  help  any  man  in  any 
situation." 

"If  ever  I  get  a  chance  to  hit  that  thing  (slavery)  I'll  hit 
it  hard." 

"These  men  will  find  that  they  have  not  read  their  Bibles 
aright." 

"It  is  better  only  sometimes  to  be  right  than  at  all  times 
to  be  wrong." 

"My  boy,  never  try  to  be  President.  If  you  do,  you  never 
will  be." 

"A  private  soldier  has  as  much  right  to  justice  as  a  major- 
general." 

"I  am  slow  to  learn  and  slow  to  forget  that  which  I  have 
learned." 

"This  government  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave 
and  half  free." 

"This  country  with  its  institutions  belongs  to  the  people 
who  inhabit  it." 


272  Abraham  Lincoln 

"If  men  never  began  to  drink,  they  never  would  become 
drunkards." 

"Don't  shoot  too  high — aim  low  and  the  common  people 
will  understand." 

"I  have  great  respect  for  the  semicolon;  it  is  a  mighty 
handy  little  fellow." 

"For  thirty  years  I  have  been  a  temperance  man,  and  am 
too  old  to  change." 

"I  do  not  think  much  of  a  man  who  is  not  wiser  today 
than  he  was  yesterday." 

"Gold  is  good  in  its  place;  but  loving,  patriotic  men  are 
better  than  gold." 

"The  Lord  must  love  the  common  people;  that's  why  he 
made  so  many  of  them." 

"Better  give  your  path  to  a  dog;  even  killing  the  dog 
would  not  cure  the  bite." 

"Now,  sonny,  keep  that  temperance  pledge  and  it  will  be 
the  best  act  of  your  life." 

"No  man  is  good  enough  to  govern  another  without  that 
man's  consent." 

"He  can  compress  the  most  words  into  the  smallest  ideas 
of  any  man  I  ever  met." 

"It  is  the  same  spirit  which  says:  'You  work  and  till  and 
earn  bread  and  I  will  eat  it.'  " 

"If  Minnehaha  means  'Laughing  Water,'  'Weeping  Water' 
must  be  'Minneboohoo.'  " 

"I  am  like  the  boy  who  stubbed  his  toe:  hurt  too  much  to 
laugh,  and  too  big  to  cry." 

"Meet  face  to  face  and  converse  together — the  best  way  to 
efface  unpleasant  feelings." 

"Trusted  in  Providence  till  the  britchin  broke,  and  then 
didn't  know  what  on  airth  to  do." 

"As  our  troops  can  neither  crawl  under  Maryland  nor  fly 
over  it,  they  must  come  across  it." 


Sayings  of  Abraham  Lincoln  273 

"I  believe  I  have  made  some  mark  which  will  tell  for  the 
cause  of  liberty  long  after  I  am  gone." 

"Until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be 
paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword." 

"Slavery  is  founded  on  the  selfishness  of  man's  nature — 
opposite  to  it  is  the  love  of  justice." 

"That  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for 
the  people  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

To  several  "weighty"  men  from  the  upper  part  of  Dela- 
ware "Didn't  the  state  tip  up  when  you  got  off?" 

"I  want  it  said  of  me  that  I  plucked  a  thistle  and  planted 
a  flower  where  I  thought  a  flower  would  grow." 

"Let  not  him  who  is  homeless  pull  down  the  house  of  an- 
other, but  let  him  labor  diligently  to  build  one  for  himself." 

"Take  all  the  Bible  upon  reason  that  you  can,  and  the 
balance  on  faith,  and  you  will  live  and  die  a  better  man." 

"A  man  has  no  time  to  spend  in  quarrels.  If  any  man 
ceases  to  attack  me,  I  never  remember  the  past  against  him." 

Declining  to  approve  the  death  sentence  of  some  deserters, 
he  said:  "There  are  already  too  many  weeping  widows  in  the 
United  States.  For  God's  sake,  don't  ask  me  to  make  any 
more." 

"Nobody  has  ever  expected  me  to  be  President.  In  my 
poor,  lean,  lank  face,  nobody  has  ever  seen  that  any  cabbages 
are  sprouting  out." 

"You  may  fool  all  of  the  people  some  of  the  time,  and 
some  of  the  people  all  of  the  time,  but  you  cannot  fool  all  of 
the  people  all  of  the  time." 

"If  this  country  cannot  be  saved  without  giving  up  that 
principle,  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than 
surrender  it." 

"Repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise,  repeal  all  compromises; 
repeal  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  repeal  all  past  history 
— you  cannot  repeal  human  nature." 


274  Abraham  Lincoln 

"If  all  that  has  been  said  in  praise  of  women  were  applied 
to  the  women  of  America,  it  would  not  do  them  justice  for 
their  conduct  during  this  war.  God  bless  the  women  of 
America." 

The  above  "Short  Sayings  of  Abraham  Lincoln"  are  taken 
from  "The  Story  Life  of  Lincoln,"  written  and  compiled  by 
Wayne  Whipple,  the  noted  writer  and  author  of  New  York 
City,  and  published  by  John  C.  Winston  Co.,  Philadelphia. 


Commemoration  ©ire 

He  knew  to  bide  his  time, 

And  then  his  fame  abide, 

Still  patient  in  his  simple  faith  sublime, 

Till  the  wise  years  decide. 

Great  captains,  with  their  guns  and  drums, 

Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour, 

But  at  last  silence  comes; 

These  all  are  gone,  and,  standing  like  a  tower, 

Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 

The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 

Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 

New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American. 

— James  Russell  Lowell. 


Hi    ii 
lis 


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